


Illusions of Grandeur

by Kanathia



Series: Illusions of Grandeur [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Related, Character Death, Gen, Magically Powerful Harry Potter, Post-Canon, Powerful Harry, canon bashing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-09 05:18:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15260256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kanathia/pseuds/Kanathia
Summary: Angels, demons, and Winchesters have made it to the top of Harry's shit list, but first impressions are rarely right and a glass of scotch can soothe anyone's temper.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some notes I put in the original posting of this story on fanfiction.net I feel should be reposted here even though I'm going to try to make this a bit smoother with the editing.  
> Firstly, a good chunk of the beginning of this fic is canon centric. Ie, it's a retelling of the original supernatural episodes with Harry thrown in. I'm going to edit some of it down so its not quite so bad but it was in the original and I acknowledge that.  
> Secondly, a heads up that this story isn't really directed at people who haven't a least finished the first five seasons of supernatural. It relies heavily on you knowing preexisting information within those seasons.  
> And lastly, though Harry is canonically powerful within this AU he doesn't display that very often in terms of flashy fights so if you're looking for a Harry who's going to throw down with someone every chapter this certainly isn't the fic for you.
> 
> Other than that I hope you all enjoy this. Its original was written ten years ago and I'm happy to see it's still massively popular on ff.net despite its flaws. :) On to the chapter!

Harry looked down at the pendant clutched in his hand and gave a sigh before tossing it to the man beside him. Better to give up the item than get shot, he theorized. He'd been shot too many times as it was. Never could he describe it as a pleasant experience.

"You've got the amulet now." Harry said turning up his nose in distaste. "Happy?"

"I'm never happy." The man bit back gruffly.

"I've noticed." Harry replied snidely under his breath. He watched as the man attached the amulet to his belt knotting the cord properly so it wouldn't come loose. "So, I'll just be taking my leave then?"

"Not so fast." The man cut him off with a click of his gun as Harry made to move toward the door.

Harry suppressed the shudder that wanted to run through him at the sound.

"I heard some interesting stories about you."

"Funny." Harry shot back. "I've heard some interesting stories about you too."

This caught the man's attention if the way he cocked his head to the side was any indication, but he clearly wasn't going to take the bait. No, he was going to keep this focused on Harry, much to the wizard's disdain. "I've heard you have the strangest ability to come back from the dead. A hunter up in Nebraska swears he put a bullet through your brain about a year ago and then he saw you a few months ago traipsing around Milwaukee like it never happened."

Harry shrugged. "What can I say? I have a natural talent for avoiding death." His smirk widened when he saw the man's eyes narrow. "Care to try the same methods as dear old Gordon though? I'd say the man had a habit for jumping the gun, but I'd hate to sound like I'm making light of the situation with a pun."

"No, you're going to tell me why you were after the amulet in the first place."

Harry frowned. The amulet was a trinket to him. It meant little. That was the reason he'd so easily handed it over. Sure it offered protection to the wielder, but it was little more than a low level warding spell. It was useless to him, but the buyer he had lined up for it wanted it so he'd tracked the thing down to some back water town in North Dakota. He could probably make one worth more but the client didn't need to know that. "Sorry. Client confidentiality and all that nonsense. Now if you're willing to pay for the information I might be more willing to give it to you."

It was the hunter's turn to make a disgruntled face. He looked like he'd swallowed a lemon, clearly having expected Harry to play the part of a cornered victim. It wasn't really his modus operandi though.

"Are you quite done with your interrogation?" Harry inquired. "I have places to go. People to meet."

The gun retort didn't surprise Harry as much as it should have. The pain in his shoulder was an unwelcome discomfort but he'd grown used to the annoyance of pain. "Ow." He said with a slight frown. "Silver bullet I assume? Gordon already tried normal ones, and rock salt, and iron. I'm not a creature you know."

"You certainly aren't human." the man replied eyes darting to the room's exits nervously. His bullet wasn't causing an overt amount of pain and he wasn't prepared to deal with more.

"I'm hurt." Harry said placing a hand over his heart dramatically. "What makes you think that?"

The man turned disbelieving eyes on him.

"Now that we've established that you're ill equipped to kill me even if you wanted to I think I'll take my leave. Now make sure to send me a post card if you're ever in the area." Harry said caustically exiting the room and leaving a stunned hunter behind.

As soon as he was out of sight of the man he apparated to his plush apartment in Texas. It was quite a distance from where he'd been so he figured he'd bought himself quite a while of peace. Of course he'd have to ditch the place as soon as he told the buyer he'd been unable to procure the item, but he'd been looking for a change of pace anyway. He was growing tired of the stale city air that was offered in the cramped city of Houston. If he'd really wanted to stay he could have faked the twice damned item, but he didn't much see the point.

"What to do…" he said with a frown.

"You could start with not stealing my clients."

Harry put on a fake smile and turned toward the petite woman standing near his counter looking perfectly at home. "Ah, Bela." He said with mock warmness. "Always a pleasure. What can I do for you?"

"I've already told you." She said slowly pulling off white gloves she'd been wearing.

"Let's not forget who found most of your clients and put in a good word for you when you first started love."

Bella gave him a glare worthy of Mrs. Weasley on a bad day. "I've more than paid you back for that."

Harry shook his head exasperatedly. "I don't want your money Bela, just a tinge of gratitude. It was a low paying job anyway. I only took it out of curiosity."

He knew he had her caught with that one. The job had only been for a couple grand, nowhere near the amount Bela preferred to make on her jobs. Harry made his way to his couch and plopped down motioning for her to take a seat in the chair across from him.

"You're bleeding." She said eying his shoulder.

"Indeed I am." He said dispassionately. He'd nearly forgotten but her reminder made the twinge flare up again. He was leaning against white upholstery too and he could tell from Bela's look that she disapproved, much to his amusement.

"I heard that you have a few hunters on your trail." Bela said arranging herself neatly on the chair.

"That would be correct. One of them caught up to me." Harry shrugged ignoring the pull on the wound. "I was expecting it sooner or later. Persistent buggers the lot of them. I heard you ran into the Winchesters."

Bela looked momentarily uncomfortable. "I did. Twice now."

"I've heard some interesting rumors about those two." Harry said leaning back to stare at the ceiling. "Their father as well."

"Any credit to those rumors?" she asked clearly having heard the same rumors he had mostly likely. They moved in similar circles.

Harry fixed her with an even stare. He had the better leverage to know the good stuff though. "Yes."

She raised an eyebrow at his blunt answer. It was unlike him to give away any information easily or without a price.

"There's no point denying it." Harry offered. "You won't be around long enough to see it transpire anyway."

She fidgeted and stared wide eyed at him. He'd caught her unaware. He grinned predatorily.

"Yes Bela. I know about your deal. I can smell it on you like whiskey on an alcoholic when he returns from a bar. Besides, the way you showed up in America like the Hellhounds of England were on your heels pretty much told me everything anyway."

She swallowed thickly. She'd faced few people who knew more about her than she did about them. It didn't surprise her that of all people it would be Harry that knew her past though.

"Almost ten years you've been in America now, isn't it? Your time's almost up." Harry said seeming completely unfazed by the thought of her dying.

"Do you know any way to-"

"Cancel the deal?" Harry finished for her a caustic side glance thrown in as he shrugged out of his suit jacket. "Yes, and no. Love, a crossroads deal isn't exactly a gambling bet with a bar buddy. You can't revoke it when your time comes due just because you're getting pregame jitters."

She closed her eyes. She had hoped Harry would be able to help, willing.

"My only suggestion would be to call up your demon buddy and try to renegotiate. There are things out there that demons want more than your soul. Perhaps they'll be willing to make a trade."

It wasn't like Bela hadn't already thought of the possibility of contacting the demon she'd made the deal with. It was simply something she'd been putting off for fear that the demon would straight up deny her request.

"Well, thrilling though this conversation has been I have obligations to fulfill. Do let me know if you survive your run in with fate."

She tried not to cringe at his casual mentioning of her likely death. They'd never been particularly close, and she had screwed him over more times than she could count. He seemed to take her betrayals like a parent would take a spoiled child's rebellion. He always welcomed her back with semi-open arms and a knowing smile. He was the reason she so hated being indebted to people. Despite all the fake hostility and barbed comments she'd hoped that she would find his help when she needed it though.

"Good luck Bela."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Harry stared at the medium sized house and frowned. It wasn't exactly luxurious compared to his normal picks, but it would suffice. He was going to miss that pent house a little. It had been perfect for entertaining the occasional hunter who found him. After all, no one questions the man with the money, and the man with the money usually owned a pent house.

"It'll do." He said the sales woman who was standing beside him getting ready to go over all the reasons this house should be his dream home. She looked a bit thrown by his sudden announcement. When what he said caught up with her though she beamed.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to see the inside?" she asked with a bright smile. He could practically see the dollar signs floating in her eyes. "It's just as charming as the outside."

"I'm sure it is." Harry said offering an amused grin. "Have the papers drawn up for me by tomorrow? I trust you'll be able to get me a reasonable offer."

She nodded vehemently.

"Fantastic. I'll be back then." Harry said making his way back to his Camaro with hardly a glance back at the ecstatic woman.

XXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Harry grabbed one of boxes and popped the top open to stare at the contents. An assortment of knickknacks filled the container. This particular box hosted some of his warding objects. He grabbed a small angel figurine and gently placed it on the highest shelf to his left sliding it so that the thing's face pointed toward the door. It wasn't really 'his style' if he were being honest but he probably wouldn't have knick knacks at all if he could find a way to get the sigils to affix to air.

He grabbed a vase and placed it on the table to his right making sure the sigil on the back was facing away from curious eyes. He paused then tilting, his head to the side.

"I thought the angels had been instructed not to come to Earth." He said to the room's new arrival without turning to face him. If the man didn't have to courtesy to ask to be let into the house Harry wouldn't dignify his arrival with a polite reception.

"The order has been repealed." The gruff voice assured him. "In light of recent events it was decided that the heavenly host was needed to run interference in Earthly matters."

"I see." Harry said with disinterest. He didn't particularly care whether or not the angels kept to themselves or started walking the Earth again. "Is there a reason you are here instead of doing your job somewhere else?"

The silence reassured Harry that the angels were just as hesitant to step on his bad side as they had been the last time he had met them.

"Your existence..."

"Is a baseline threat to the powers that be and walks a thin line between blasphemy and blah blah blah..." Harry said throwing a look over his shoulder. "I've heard the spiel before. It's hardly new. You angels are quite set in your ways and as such your admonishments rarely tend to change a great deal. You've never been great at getting to the point either. Always dressing your words up into riddles and trying to make the mortals figure out the puzzle in some sort of grand enlightenment scheme. The difference here though kiddo is that I'm not a mortal. I don't take well to threats, hell I don't even care for criticism when it comes from hypocritical self righteous twats like you."

He had turned to face the angel and the slowly growing agitation was clearly showing on his face as his words grew in intensity.

"I'm only going to ask one more time. Why are you here Uriel?"

The angel fixed him with a disdainful look. Harry had heard that the angel had a great dislike for all things human and Harry had once been human.

"I was asked to inform you of the impending apocalypse. My superiors could not make it here themselves." Uriel finally relented.

Harry's face turned considering. "I'd heard rumors that the demons were trying to break the seals." He admitted. "Ambriel couldn't take a few minutes to come here? I owe him a drink."

Uriel scowled. "Ambriel is busy trying to complete a task given to him by the archangel Michael. He cannot come to the beck and call of something such as you."

"Something such as me." Harry parroted the words. "Curious phrasing. Now, personally I was never one to get offended when being referred to as sub human. I've grown quite fond of losing my mortality over time. It's offered me a bit of freedom in the areas of conscience. Not to mention my ability to have freedom from the whim of corrupted angels like yourself. Oh, yes." He held up a finger as Uriel made a furious face at the insult. "I can see your corruption. Your grace is so tainted it's a wonder you haven't fallen from favor already. I'll give it time Uriel, but before long you'll end up on the hit list too; just another hunt for the supernaturally inclined of this world to deal with. Your egotistical charades will only get you so far. Now, I'm not in the mood to speak with you any longer so I'll ask you to kindly vacate the premises."

Uriel took an enraged step toward him only find his right foot stuck to the floor behind him. His infuriated expression turned to one of confusion.

"I gave you the chance to do it yourself." Harry said with a sigh as he opened the cabinet door to his wet bar. On the inside was an angel repelling sigil he had already created. He smirked as he pressed his hand against it. Uriel vanished in a flash of brilliant light. "Won't be seeing him for a while." He murmured.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Harry was in the business of selling information and items to anyone who could pay the price he stuck on them. Mostly he sold rare and obscure items. They brought in more revenue in one go after all. Occasionally he'd make a talisman or amulet for a hunter in need.

And oh man hunters. He was quite amused with that particular group of humans. He had to admit he probably would have become a hunter in his past life if he'd known it to be an option. It was preferable to law enforcement as you had no superiors to order you around, and Harry found quickly that he had an issue with authority. He supposed he should have seen that coming. He had broken every school rule that had been deemed important by staff when he was a kid. Why would his need to prove rules wrong change as an adult?

As it was Harry was a thief, an information broker, a salesman, a CEO, and on occasion he was a hunter. He was brilliant at all of it if he had to say. He supposed that most people would see the number of injuries he picked on hunts to be a negative connotation on his ability to hunt, but with his quick healing and inability to die that was far from accurate. He was, perhaps, a tinge full of himself. Not that it wasn't warranted, but it did tend to rub people the wrong way.

Harry bit his cheek as he rounded the corner of a shop in Sun Valley, Idaho. He'd just finished a meeting with a particularly annoying client. Why did some clients insist on that half now half later concept to the point of cutting the money literally in half? It made Harry's job all the harder.

He tossed a brief case full of half bills into his back seat and paused as he was opening the front door. His head tilted to the side as it was apt to do when he found something curious. A strange power was filling the air. It was far off, but it was altering time significantly so it was far from unnoticeable. He was sure any reapers in America could feel it too. It tugged at his mind like a half remembered thought. Frowning he relocked his car and concentrated to find the power's origin.

"Florida?" he said with confusion. The power certainly was throwing waves quiet far to reach him in Idaho from Florida. He shrugged, but he knew his curiosity was taking hold of his actions.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he popped in on the power's source, but this certainly wasn't it. The freakishly tall brooding guy in the corner with the scowl looked desperate. The man parading in front of him looked amused, but annoyed. It was a look Harry was familiar with. He wore it himself quite often. The man wearing the look was familiar as well, if distantly. He hadn't seen Loki in a fairly long while now.

"Just take us back to that Tuesday—er, Wednesday—when it all started. Please. We won't come after you, I swear." The tall man said and Harry swung his attention back to him his foot hanging mid air from where he'd just been about to step out.

"You swear?" The other man said disbelievingly, his tone dripping sarcasm.

"Yes." The tall man said earnestly.

"I don't know. Even if I could-"

"You can."

"True. But that don't mean I should. Sam, there's a lesson here that I've been trying to drill into that freakish Cro-Magnon skull of yours."

"Lesson? What lesson?"

"This obsession to save Dean? The way you two keep sacrificing yourselves for each other? Nothing good comes out of it. Just blood and pain. Dean's your weakness. And the bad guys know it, too. It's gonna be the death of you, Sam. Sometimes you just gotta let people go."

"He's my brother."

"Yup. And like it or not, this is what life's gonna be like without him."

"Please. Just—please."

Harry had heard enough. He stepped out letting his presence be known. He took a small amount of joy in watching the trickster's head swing about nearly fast enough to give him whiplash. "Loki." He said with a smile. "It's been a while."

Loki scowled. "Always ruining my fun." He muttered.

Sam's eyes were fixed on Harry as though his presence was either a godsend or the most unwelcome distraction ever and he couldn't decide which.

"Your magic is doing a number on the states." Harry said tilting his head to the side. "I could feel waves all the way in Idaho."

Loki looked momentarily impressed with himself. Then he sighed and fixed the taller man with a glare. "Fine, look. This all stopped being fun months ago. You're Travis Bickle in a skirt, pal. I'm over it."

The tall man looked unsure at the trickster's words. "Meaning what?"

"Meaning that's for me to know and you to find out." Loki replied snapping his fingers.

The tall man disappeared but Harry and Loki remained standing in the middle of the odd room. Harry reached up and gently removed an upside down glass of 'liquid' from the nearest odd dining set. With a snap of his fingers the glass was filled with scotch instead of the odd jelly like substance it had been before.

"You don't usually track me down like that." Loki said frowning.

"You don't usually use enough magic to send waves halfway across the continental United States. Call it curiosity. That was a powerful illusion spell you were working. Who was that and what did he do to deserve that particularly vicious cycle spell?" Harry asked conjuring a chair for himself and Loki and motioning for the other to sit as well.

"Sam Winchester." Loki said with a playful frown. Now that he figured out Harry wasn't here for what seemed malevolent reasons he relaxed a bit.

"Sammy Winchester?" Harry said glancing up to where the man had been standing. "Lots of things going through the rumor mill about that one."

"Still have that rumor mill running then? It's been forever, I'm surprised you didn't get tired of gossiping with every creature, person, or demon you came across."

Harry shrugged. "I like to be informed. Staying one step ahead of the game helps me feel secure, and there are hardly many demons in it." Harry joked. "Speaking of which. I had a heavenly visit today."

Loki looked momentarily uncomfortable. "That so?"

"It is." Harry said taking a sip of his drink. "You know I don't care much for your brothers. None of them seem to have nearly as much self preservation instinct as is normally necessary. Nor do they act as divine as beings led by god should. In short they're sort of dicks."

Loki gave him a disbelieving look. "You know then?"

"Of course I know." Harry scoffed. "I'd have to be an idiot not to notice the similarities between your magical signature and theirs."

Loki frowned.

"Stop worrying." Harry said fixing him with a smile. "I'm not going to tell anyone. I've known since our second meeting and I've not told anyone yet. No point in laying all my cards on the table at once after all."

Loki looked slightly relieved, but still wary. "Sort of makes me wonder why you're bringing it up now." the sulking arch angel pointed out.

Harry fixed him with a smirk. "I've been meaning to make a trip over to talk with you. I'm sure you've heard rumors about the apocalypse."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dean gave Sam another incredulous look. "You can't be serious. Bobby tell him he's crazy." Dean bit out.

Bobby gave Dean a 'keep me out of it' stare.

"Dean I don't know who the guy was but maybe he can help. He called off that trickster somehow."

"Sam the guy could be a demon for all you know and you want to go sticking your neck out?"

"You don't know he's a demon Dean!" Sam yelled back. "And if there's even the slightest chance he might be able to help you we have to try!"

"Knock it off you idjits. You're giving me a headache." Bobby said plopping down into one of the rickety chairs that sat beside his dining room table. "We don't even know how to find him. He can't do us much good right now anyway. I tried looking into some lore and even gave out the physical description to a list of hunters. Not a single lead popped up."

As if to spite the aged hunter the phone began to ring. All three shared a look before Bobby pulled dingy device down. Bobby opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the other person. "Ellen, slow down."

Sam and Dean shared another look moving closer in hope they'd be able to hear the conversation. Bobby shoved them back with a glare. He was grunting affirmatives to the woman on the other end for about two minutes interlaced a fair bit of assurances they were looking for the information to go on a hunt. He seemed to eventually convince Ellen they weren't on a suicide mission. He quickly picked up a pen and jotted down an address before hanging up with a muted 'thanks'. "Well I'll be damned." He muttered staring at the address he'd written.

"What's that?" Dean asked eying it as well.

"What did Ellen want?" Sam asked with concern.

"Well for one she wanted to know why we were looking for the guy. She figured it out herself pretty quick and after asking around some old hunting friends she came up with a name. She said she'd checked an old address of his. Jo got the forwarding address from the post office."

Sam looked excited, a hopeful spark in the back of his weary eyes. "How far are we going Bobby?"

"Not so fast." Bobby said drawing the paper closer to him. "Ellen says the guy's dangerous, has a pretty bad reputation when people annoy him. She said we might not like what we find."

"What choice do we have?" Sam asked eyebrows knotting together in confusion and anger.

"He's human?" Dean asked overruling Sam's question.

Bobby shrugged.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Green River, Wyoming." Dean said with a whistle as the three of them stepped out of their vehicles just a street over from their destination. They figured it was better to leave the Impala and Bobby's truck a street over just in case they needed to make a get away. They didn't want the guy to have any solid link back to them in the hunter community if he came looking. "I have to say not exactly where I'd think to look for some crazy powerful hoodoo man…or whatever he is."

Sam just rolled his eyes and started walking in the right direction. Bobby made a motion for Dean to follow before following himself.

The house wasn't particularly large. It was two stories with a cobblestone exterior and a large bay window out front. The curtains were drawn from the large windows affording them a view of a large den with a, "Is that a piano?" Dean asked eying the instrument.

"What else would it be ya idjit?" Bobby said with a look.

Sam searched for a doorbell before giving up and knocking as loud as he could without being rude. It took a few minutes before they heard the shuffling footsteps and the door swung open cleanly revealing a man who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He had raven hair and sharp green eyes that observed them like they were insects he found particularly amusing. "Can I help you?" the English lilt surprised Dean.

Sam looked like he'd just won the lottery. Dean supposed that meant they'd found the right guy. It had been a toss up as to whether or not this would be him or not.

"Er, well. You see…"

The man let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes, I was told you Winchesters had a tendency to be far from articulate. Honestly I had decided to give you the benefit of the doubt and say the rumors were untrue, but fate always does love to prove me wrong. Come inside. I don't feel like paying a fortune in heating costs waiting for you to form a coherent thought."

Sam blinked. He certainly hadn't expected that, but when the door widened and the man motioned them through he moved inside unwilling to ruin his chance to save his brother. Dean and Bobby followed at a much more sedate pace each twitching as if they wanted to unload a few salt rounds in the man to make sure he wasn't about to turn on them.

The raven haired man led them through a wide hall into a sitting room and plopped onto a plush couch gesturing for them to take seats across from him as well. "I take it you're not here to talk about the weather. What can I help you with? The only hunters I've dealt with recently wanted amulets or information." He paused grabbing a drink that Dean hadn't realized had been resting on the coffee table, next to it lay a book. "You don't look like you need amulets though."

"Not unless you've got one that stops hell hounds." Dean joked before he could stop himself.

The man raised an eyebrow. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. The name's Harry. Harry Potter."

"What's the point of introducing ourselves if you know who we are?" Dean asked defensively. His mind ran through possibilities. Was there a monster that needed your name to harm you? "You said Winchester at the door."

Harry smirked. "I don't know who you are per se." he said tilting his head, his eyes flickered to Sam and then back to Dean. "It's only Sam Winchester over here whom I'm familiar with."

Dean tensed.

"And quite the rumor mill spreading about you Mr. Sam." Harry said with a joking lilt to his voice. "I know a few hunters and…ehem…non hunters who would pay a pretty penny to know your location. I'd keep my head under the radar if I were you."

"Is that a threat?" Dean asked nearly standing before Bobby put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Hardly." Harry said taking a sip of his drink. "More of a suggestion. I take it you're Dean. The over protectiveness sort of gives you away. This older gentlemen here, my money would be on Bobby Singer. Am I wrong? Oh you all look terribly tense. Do you see why I prefer to have my guests introduce themselves now? It tends to leave them with a sense of control."

"Who are you?" Dean asked through gritted teeth.

"Harry Potter." He said with a smirk. "I thought I'd clarified that already."

"I meant what are you!"

"Dean!" Sam chided speaking up finally.

"Ah, well that's a harder question to answer. I'm afraid I'm not really in the mood to answer it either. Now I'm going to have to insist you tell me what you want some time this century. I was quite enjoying my novel before the interruption and I'd like to return to it at some point."

Dean opened his mouth to say something but Sam cut him off. "Can you stop a deal?" he blurted before he even realized he was speaking.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "A deal?"

"A crossroads deal." Sam clarified. He didn't miss the way Harry's eyes flickered to Dean.

"What makes you think I could?" Harry asked with open curiosity.

"I saw the way you showed up in Florida, and you called off that trickster."

Harry laughed. "I hardly called him off. He'd already decided to release you. Although, from the looks of it his lesson didn't stick so well."

Sam flinched drawing curious glances from Dean and Bobby.

Harry leaned back observing the three. "I can't break the deal." He said and Sam looked ready to protest. "Demon deals are difficult to wiggle out of. Not to mention you're cutting it pretty close to your deadline. Three days? Really? Besides, from the sounds of it you have no issue leaving others to hell's devices. Bela hardly got the fair end of the stick on that one."

The brothers shared a nervous glance at the mention of the British thief who'd caused them so much hell lately.

"Now, normally I'd offer you this." He snapped his fingers and the colt appeared inches above his right ear and plopped into his hand. Three pairs of eyes riveted to the gun. "But I'm afraid you'll probably lose it if I give it to you right now so I think I'll keep it for safe keeping at the moment. Besides, I heard you're working with a lovely demon that already carries about a demon killing dagger."

"We'd stand a better shot with the colt and the knife." Dean pointed out eying the colt greedily.

Harry laughed humorlessly. "You don't stand a chance in hell even with both. Lillith will wipe the floor with you if you show up right now."

"You know who's holding Dean's contract? What else aren't you telling us?" Bobby finally spoke up.

"The things I know could fill more books than you could fit in a national library Mr. Singer." Harry said snapping his fingers again. The colt was gone. "I may pick and choose which I tell you, but it's only for your own good. Know too much too quickly and you get put on hit lists of people you can't possibly hope to defend yourself from. I recommend you all take a few seconds to reevaluate the reason you're here. I hate to inform you of this, but Dean will die in three days. It's the will of the world, or at least the people who run it. I think it's time we said our goodbyes. Now, if you wish to seek me out in a few months time I might be more cooperative. For now, my hands are tied."

Sam looked utterly defeated at the news.

Harry snapped his fingers once more and the three hunters found themselves standing by the impala once more. Harry grabbed his book and leaned back enjoying the soft feel of the fabric beneath him but a frown tugged at his lips. The Winchesters had been a bit different from what he'd imagined them as. "The older one did look ready to pull a gun on me a few times though." He said taking a sip of his drink and placing it on the oak table.

"You're lucky you weren't shot." Loki's voice greeted him. "Or doused in holy water. I'm pretty sure they think you're a demon."

"A pleasure as always." Harry said by way of greeting. "I do wish you angels would use the front door though."

Loki shot him a coy look from the arm chair he was reclining in. "You could have helped them."

Harry glanced over, face completely emotionless. "I could have."

"Why didn't you?"

"In my experience people tend not to learn their lesson without a bit of tough love. Dean sold his soul so he gets a trip to hell. Or he'll go about pawning it off all the time. Besides, they weren't exactly offering collateral, and saving Dean would've put me on quite a few shit lists."

"Whose shit list besides the general demon-"

Harry glanced up from the pages of his novel. "There are quite a few parties interested in the start of the end of the world. I find the 'apocalypse' to be a bit melodramatic sounding. Still," he shrugged. "It's not my problem to fix."

Loki frowned, it was an expression that really didn't fit his playful nature. "I've heard the Winchesters are the vessels."

Harry hummed a positive in response.

"Does this mean you want the apocalypse to happen?" Loki asked genuinely curious.

Harry sighed and set his book to the side. "Honestly? I don't care at the moment. I've always been less of an overall picture kind of guy and more of an individual scenario kind of person. The Winchesters are intriguing. I might help them in the future. I've never cared for demons or angels anyway. Humanity has always had the more interesting players."

Loki huffed even if he agreed with the assessment. He was, after all, an angel and Harry's slight was somewhat directed toward him.

Harry shot him a look. "I always enjoy a good chat Loki but I'm a bit preoccupied."

Loki gave him a knowing smile. "Fifty shades of gray doesn't count as reading material. I know you're only reading it for the smut anyway."

Harry shot him a smirk. "Goodbye Gabriel."

Loki winked and was gone.

Sam sat in the passenger seat of the impala eying the card he'd found in his pocket that morning. Harry Potter Information Broker 832 549 XXXX

"Would you give it a rest with that card Sammy?" Dean said snapping him from his reverie. "You've gotta get your head in the game."

It was true of course. They were on their way to find Lilith. They'd long since left behind Bobby's place in Sioux Falls. Sam frowned at the small piece of paper before pocketing it. Normally he would have ignored Dean's blunt request, but considering his brother might die soon he figured he would humor him.

"Do you think Lilith's really there?"

"I damn well hope so." Dean ground out focusing his glare through the windshield.

Sam just nodded in agreement. If she wasn't there they had no other leads. They'd be stuck.


	2. Daemon Agit et Annulos

It was done, over. Dean was gone. Sam stared at his hands. Dean had been gone for months now. An empty hole had opened in Sam's chest when he'd lifted his brother's lifeless corpse in his arms. He'd tried so much to get his brother back. So much. But he was losing hope that anything could bring Dean back.

Bobby had tried to keep him away from the darker stuff but it hadn't been easy, and he'd ultimately failed. Sam felt terrible for pushing the man away, but he hadn't been thinking straight. Hell he still wasn't. No, he was drowning his sorrows in alcohol one shot at a time and even that wasn't working. So he had gone to Ruby. She had given him a purpose. He'd felt a momentary sense of relief to be out and hunting again. It was just an added perk that he could interrogate the demons for ways to bring Dean back. So far no secrets had been spilled, but every time they caught one he felt like he was one tiny step closer to finding a way to bring Dean back.

Sam shuffled to the side cabinet to pour himself another drink and felt his finger hit something. With curiosity he stopped and glanced down at the small unoffending card that lay there. He must have thrown it out of his pocket when he'd been cleaning them out after the last hunt. He thumbed the simplistic thing. It was stark white, or had been at some point. Now it was a bit smudged with things Sam didn't really want to think about. The font was just slightly curved to look fancy but not overbearing.

Sam couldn't quite recall what the small unobtrusive thing was doing there until he caught a glimpse of the name still proudly shining at the top in black letters. Harry Potter.

He felt his breath catch in his throat as he recalled their conversation the last time Sam had shown up on the man's doorstep toting Dean and Bobby with him. Anger welled at the nonchalance the man had shown upon hearing about Dean's impending death sentence, but it was quickly struck through as something popped to mind. He was stuck on one sentence he hadn't thought about since they'd left the Green River that day. 'Now, if you wish to seek me out in a few months time I might be more cooperative.' It sounded like a hint. Something he definitely should have paid more attention to. How could he have forgotten until this point? Maybe this guy could do something to pull Dean back even if he hadn't been able to save Dean from the get go. A damaged Dean was better than no Dean right?

Sam pulled out his cell phone and hastily punched in the number from the card. It rang twice before forwarding to an answering machine. A smooth woman's voice told him that Harry was unavailable at the moment but he could be found at a business located not far from where Sam was currently staying. Well, not far by Winchester standards at least. It was still two states from him, but considering that it could have been on the other side of the country Sam wasn't going to start complaining.

Instead he began throwing all his belongings into an overnight bag so he could set off. There was no telling how long Harry would be at the place he was and Sam didn't want to have to go searching all over creation for the guy.

It took two tense days of driving, and three ignored calls from Bobby for Sam to reach his destination.

The building was large and sleek, made mostly of windows as office buildings were so prone to be these days. Sam stared at it for a moment unsure how to proceed. His life hadn't taught him to approach things head on after all.

He bit down his nervousness and stepped into the building heading to the front desk. A petite woman in a pristine white suit greeted him with a tight smile. "How may I help you?"

"Er, well…" Sam started hesitantly before he remembered what Dean had told him in the past. Show a determined front and act like you're supposed to be there and things usually fell into place. He cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders. "I'm looking for a man named Harry Potter."

She gave him an incredulous look as if he'd just announced he was looking for a giant paper clip named Blinky. Sam trying not to let the look throw him. "You've found the right place. He owns the building after all."

Sam felt like slapping his face. "Is he in?"

She took a more professional tone. "Do you have an appointment?"

Sam hesitated. "Er, well…"

"Gina." A man said walking up to the desk in a flurry of movement. "I told you to have the files organized before you left yesterday. They're still a mess."

The woman who'd been talking to Sam glanced away apologetically. "I'm sorry. I got a call from my son's school."

The man stopped as he seemed about to chew her out to glance at Sam. He seemed to consider something as looked at him. "Are you here for an appointment?"

"Not exactly." Sam replied. "But I was hoping Mr. Potter could see me. My name is Sam Winchester."

Sam hesitantly gave out his real name in hopes that Harry would recognize it and let him through.

The man scowled as if affronted by Sam's very presence. "You have to call and set up an appointment. Mr. Potter is a very busy man. He doesn't have time to just speak with any vagrant that wanders in off of the-"

"Sammy!"

If the exclamation of his name didn't make him tense the sudden harsh pat of his back certainly would have. He glanced to his right and slightly down to see the same emerald eyed man he'd met several months back beaming up at him.

"Good to see you Sam." He said before turning to the two at the desk. "I'm afraid we'll have to push back my 2:30. Take care of that for me would you Gina. Ted if you'd see me in my office later I think we need to have a talk. Alrighty, thanks guys."

Sam tried to catch up with what was happening as he was none too gently guided away from the desk and into an elevator. The moment the doors closed the smile faded from Harry's face.

"I do so hate bureaucracy." He said rolling his shoulders. "Unfortunately it's necessary to run a business."

Sam just stared incredulously.

A small ding announced their arrival on the top floor. The doors slid open to reveal an oak door which Harry pushed open haphazardly. Behind it lay a spacious office with an Oak desk settled near one of the windows. Harry made a bee line for one of the cabinets to the side. "So Sam Winchester, I had a feeling I'd be seeing you soon."

Sam sent him a suspicious glare. "What do you mean?"

Harry shrugged pouring amber liquid into a glass. "I told you your brother wouldn't escape from his deal, and I know none of the demons you've been putting pressure on has helped you out. So I assume you're here about his soul. You don't seem like the weak willed sort who'd just give up on getting his brother back."

"Why didn't you help before?" Sam asked moving a bit further from the elevator. It didn't slip his notice that apparently the man had been keeping tabs on him.

"I told you then and I'll remind you now. Demon deals are not so easily broken. I could have pushed my hand and possibly gotten Dean off, but there would have been consequences. Dean's elevator to hell was a necessary trigger. It was something that two very powerful forces wanted and honestly I don't feel like being caught in the crossfire for having stopped it."

Sam tried to work out what Harry had meant but gave up, storing the information in his head for later examination. "Can you get him out?" Sam asked sounding a tinge desperate despite himself.

Harry looked sympathetic at Sam's obvious emotional trauma, but Sam knew it wasn't hard for some people to fake things like sympathy for an upper hand. He wasn't buying it. "I can." He said with a shrug.

"Do it." Sam sounded desperate and demanding at the same time.

Harry smirked. "My services don't come for free Sam."

"What do you want? My soul?" Sam spat.

Harry placed a hand across his chest, appalled. "Do I look like a bloody demon to you?" he asked with all due anger. "No I don't want your soul you morbid-" Harry cut himself off anger flashing in his eyes before he controlled his temper. "I don't make deals for souls like some two bit, dog breeding crossroads demon. You have nothing I want at the moment."

Sam opened his mouth. To protest or beg he hadn't decided but Harry's hand stopped him.

"This is all about what you'll acquire in the future."

Sam gave him a confused look. Harry thought he looked rather like a deer caught in the headlights.

"A ring."

"A ring?"

Harry nodded. "A very specific ring." Harry said placing himself in the armchair nearest to the window. "It was snatched from me years ago and returned to its 'proper master' as I've been told, but that's far from the truth. It holds sentimental value and I wish for it back. If you promise to retrieve the ring for me in the future I will promise to do my utmost to have Dean's soul returned to the Earthly plane."

"I'll do it." Sam said without an ounce of hesitation. Whoever had the ring was worth facing if it meant bringing Dean back.

Harry nodded. "Good." Harry took a sip of his drink but didn't move.

"Well?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Isn't there something we have to do to seal the deal or something?"

Harry scoffed leaning forward. "For the last time Winchester, I'm not a demon. I could write up some sort of contract, but it wouldn't be legally binding. Our deal is based solely on our word. You can get out of it as easily as ignoring our agreement. Of course, backing out means making powerful enemies. I'm sure you have no intention to do that."

Sam looked thoughtful. "You really aren't a demon." He said with confusion. "So what are you?"

Harry smirked. "Well, few people know the real answer to that question. Suffice it to say that right now I'm an ally, but I'm an ally you don't want to fuck with. So make sure you don't. I think that about wraps up our conversation. Have a pleasant day Sam." Harry said with a grin and then he leaned forward holding out a business card. "Take it. Just say my name if you ever want to talk. I can't have you coming in to my office all the time. You Winchesters dress like fashion impaired hobos."

Sam grabbed the card and made for the elevator a faint hope growing in his chest. He would see Dean again. Those last few months without him would soon be simple memories.

XXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Harry frowned as he sipped his whiskey and stared at the patchy grass near his feet. A small grave in Illinois marked with only a hastily made cross with his name etched on it was the resting place of one Dean Winchester. It certainly was under dramatic. He supposed at least this way he had a body to work with.

He hadn't bothered to even ask Sam if they had cremated Dean. He supposed he was thankful for the tall man's obstinacy when it came to his brother. After all, they had burned their father. Harry smirked. He'd known Sam had cared more about Dean than he had about John. Or maybe he'd read it wrong and it was simply the lack of Dean's reasoning that led to the improper hunter burial.

"Alright. Suppose this isn't going to do itself." He snapped his fingers and a large circle of runes began to weave themselves around where he was standing.

"There is no need to do that."

The voice threw Harry off. He blinked allowing the spell he had begun to weave to falter. He turned to the speaker with a mix of curiosity and irritation. "Another angel? Swell. What do you want?"

"There is no need for you intervention." The angel reiterated. "I have just raised Dean Winchester's soul from perdition. Your interference is unneeded."

"Don't you know how to make a guy feel wanted?" Harry said snidely. "Your name?"

The angel stared at him for several minutes making Harry a bit more irate than he had started. "You are different from how my brothers described you." The angel offered but did not mention his name.

"How so?" Harry asked with interest.

"You do not feel like an abomination." He supplied easily the expression on his face giving no emotion and taking some of the heat out of the obvious insult.

Harry's eyebrows drew up in surprise. He let out a small surprised laugh. "I haven't met an angel as…pure as you are in a long time. Tell me, are your kind still calling it blasphemous to feel emotion? It would certainly explain the constipated look on your face."

The angel's expression did not change at all. "Why are you here?"

"I've made a deal with Sam Winchester." Harry said nonchalantly.

"You will not interfere in my work with Dean Winchester."

Harry held his hands up in mock surrender but he had a cocky grin plastered to his face. "Wouldn't dream of it Feathers. I can call you Feathers right? Seeing as you won't give me a name and I have to call you something."

The angel's head ticked to the side in an almost adorable look of confusion. "I do not understand. You may call me Castiel."

"Castiel." Harry said his mind flipping through mental tomes of information. "The angel of Thursday. So if you don't mind my asking, why are the angels raising Mr. Winchester from hell in the first place?"

Castiel didn't answer and before he could ask again a hand broke the surface of the ground near Harry's foot. Harry glanced down at it then back up to find the angel gone.

"So much for my questions." Harry muttered throwing an irritated glance at where Castiel had been.

He gave one last glance to the dirty hand wandering about the ground trying to find purchase on something. With a final smirk Harry snapped his fingers and vanished leaving a bottle of scotch for the newly revived Winchester to find.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bobby shot another look to Dean sitting at his kitchen table. It was still too surreal seeing him there. "So you're saying you just woke up in a-"

"In a pine box six feet under. Yes Bobby." Dean said with a sigh rubbing his hands through his hair. "I don't get it either. Sam's number's not working…he's not…"

"He's alive. As far as I know."

"Good... Wait, what do you mean, as far as you know?"

"I haven't talked to him for months."

"You're kidding, you just let him go off by himself?" Dean said incredulously.

"He was dead set on it."

"Bobby, you should've been looking after him."

"I tried. These last months haven't been exactly easy, you know. For him, or me. We had to bury you."

Dean had the sense to look abashed. He rarely saw Bobby show that much emotion. "Why did you bury me, anyway?" he asked desperate for the change of topic.

"I wanted you salted and burned. Usual drill. But... Sam wouldn't have it."

"Well, I'm glad he won that one. "

"He said you'd need a body when he got you back home somehow. That's about all he said."

" What do you mean?"

"He was quiet. Real quiet. And then he just took off. Wouldn't return my calls. I tried to find him, but he didn't want to be found."

"Oh, damn it Sam!" Dean said punching the wall. Sam may not want to be found, but he was going to be. Whatever he'd done set Dean on edge.

It hadn't taken long for Dean to find out where Sam was. He knew the guy's habits like the back of his hand. He only wished he could have gotten there faster and that he didn't feel like he was making a trip back to his own grave. Of course Sam would be in Pontiac, Illinois the exact town where he had climbed out of a hole in the ground barely two days ago.

Dean glanced at the room number one more time before pounding on the door. The click of the lock rang through the hall and the door swung inward. A young woman stood there wearing nothing but a tank top and underwear. Dean swallowed a lump in his throat.

"So where is it?" she says looking first at Dean then Bobby.

"Where's what?" Dean asked looking at Bobby to see if he knew what the woman meant.

"The pizza…that apparently takes two guys to deliver."

"I think we've got the wrong room." Dean said clutching the small piece of paper in his hand harder. Apparently the girl at the front desk didn't know what she was talking about.

The door moved to swing shut as another figure moved into sight. "Hey is…" Sam froze as he caught sight of Dean standing there in the doorway.

"Heya Sammy." Dean said with a tinge of trepidation, but he pushed his way into the room regardless.

Sam lunged forward and Dean tensed, ready for a fight. Instead he found himself enveloped in a tight hug.

"So…are you two…together?" the woman by the door said giving them an off look.

"Huh? Oh, no." Sam said with a small laugh. "He's my brother."

"Right…well…I, uh. I think I should leave."

"Yeah. That's probably for the best." Sam agreed almost too quickly.

When she was gone the three left in the room basked in the quiet for short a second. Bobby and Dean eyed Sam suspiciously.

"So what'd it cost you?" Dean asked eying Sam as if something about him might have altered physically to give him away.

Sam's eyebrows shot up. "The girl? Dean I don't pay." Sam said with a small laugh.

"No Sam!" Dean said vehemently. "To bring me back! What'd it cost you? Your soul? What I'm off the hook and you're on?"

Sam scowled. "No Dean. I didn't sell my soul, and trust me. I tried. No demon out there was willing to make a deal!"

"Then what Sam?" Dean had noticed that Sam hadn't straight up denied being involved. He'd simply said he hadn't sold his soul. It was a detail Dean hadn't overlooked. "Is it something worse? WHAT'D YOU DO?"

Sam reached into his pocket and held out a small card. He looked moderately abashed, but his eyes held a level of defiance that let Dean know that he thought what he did to be justifiable. Dean took the card and flipped it face up. He read the name twice before any semblance of recognition crossed his face.

"Harry Potter? That British prick from Wyoming?" Dean said with confusion.

"I take offense to that." The sudden addition of a body to the room didn't go unnoticed.

Bobby and Dean had guns drawn almost immediately and pointed in the direction of the room's newest addition.

"Mr. Winchester, it's nice to see you up and walking about. How was Hell? Cherry?" Harry held out a small bowl filled with pitted cherries. At the disgusted look on Dean's face he shrugged. "More for me then. You called?"

Sam looked mostly at ease and Dean felt a pang of anger run through him. "You the one who Sam sold his soul to?"

Something flashed in Harry's eyes before he let out a sigh. "Honestly. You Winchesters are too alike for your own good. No. Sam did not sell his soul to me. I'm not some petty crossroads demon. I have no interest in human souls." He said taking a seat on the edge of the bed and crossing his legs as if he hadn't a care in the world even with three hunters in the room, two of which still had guns trained on him. "Besides, this," Harry gestured to Dean. "Isn't my handy work."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked in confusion.

"Your brother had a bit of assistance from another source right before I got down to the task of drawing him back up. From the look of it his ride was a lot more pleasant that way though." Harry stood, simply letting go of the bowl of cherries and it vanished just before it could hit the floor. "I'm being called elsewhere. So, unless you have something else to discuss…"

"Who did it?" Dean said taking a step forward. "If you didn't pull me back then who did?"

"Ah, I'll give you a name if Sam keeps up his promise." Harry said with a smirk earning him equal glares from Bobby and Dean. Both turned their glares on Sam next.

"Fine." Sam agreed. "Who did it?"

"You're looking for-"

"No, absolutely not." Dean said stepping between the two and earning a frown from Harry.

"Dean, really. It's okay." Sam said with a look of confusion.

"Okay?! It's not 'okay' Sam!" Dean fumed.

"What did you even promise him boy?" Bobby asked stepping forward.

"A ring." Harry answered for Sam. "For now though I suppose I'll take Sam's willingness to work with me as a consolation prize."

"What does that mean?" Dean bit out.

"You're looking for Castiel. I'm pretty sure he'll pop around sooner or later to introduce himself." Harry said with a disinterested look. "I think I'll take my leave now. Good day gentlemen."

Bobby and Dean didn't seem to know what to make of Harry's sudden disappearing act. Sam looked unsure as he thought about the implications of an unknown pulling Dean from Hell.

"What the hell Sam!" Dean blurted rounding on his brother.

"What?" Sam asked taking an involuntary step back.

"What? Sam what the hell was that? Why are you running around making deals!?"

"The guy wanted a ring. A ring! For your SOUL Dean!" Sam said throwing his arms out. "How could I not take that offer? How could I leave you in hell when all it took to save you was a ring? Don't you get it Dean?"

"Look you idjits. We've got bigger problems right now." Bobby cut in. "The Potter guy didn't pull Dean out of Hell and that means this Castiel guy did. We need to find out what his stake in the game is."

"How do we know he wasn't lying Bobby?" Dean asked looking disbelievingly at the spot where Harry had so recently been standing.

"How many demons do you know that would set themselves up to lose a deal?" Bobby told him matter of factly. "In fact, I'd assume normally that a demon would say it was his work even if it wasn't just so he could keep the deal."

Dean calmed down a bit accepting Bobby's logic. "Okay. So how do we know he even gave us the right name?" Dean said crossing his arms over his chest.

"We summon it." Was Bobby's simple answer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sam leaned against the table staring at the summoning circle with something akin to frustration.

"Are you sure you did the summoning ritual right?" Dean said glancing at Bobby whose scowl deepened. "Right…sorry."

The wind picked up and all three hunters shared looks of trepidation. Dean hopped from the table he'd been sitting on and moved closer to the other two, eyes scanning the room for threats.

"Wishful thinking." Dean said backing up toward the wall shotgun raised. "But maybe it's just the wind?"

As if on cue the only doors in the shed they were occupying burst open revealing a man of medium height in a trench coat. He stalked in, eyes glued to the three of them. As he got a bit close for comfort all three hunters opened fire. The bullets didn't even seem to faze him. He continued forward stopping in front of Dean who had grabbed the knife they'd stolen off of Ruby.

"Who are you?" Dean growled out.

"I am the one who gripped you tight and pulled you from perdition." The man said quiet evenly for someone who'd just been shot in the chest.

"Yeah. Thanks for that." Dean said striking fast with the knife.

The man looked down, completely unconcerned and pulled it out letting it drop to the ground. As Bobby went to take a swing the man caught his weapon and held it reaching out toward Bobby. Before his hand could make contact with Bobby's head Sam was there blocking the hand and pushing Bobby back. The man sighed turning back to Dean.

"Who are you?" Dean repeated trying to sound sure of himself despite the sense of dread filling him.

"Castiel." The man answered.

"Yeah, I figured that much. I mean what are you?" Dean bit out.

With a completely straight face he answered. "I am an angel of the lord."

Everyone in the room blinked, taken by surprise.

"Yeah…and I'm a ballerina." Sam snapped quietly.

Castiel turned his gaze to the larger brother. "I was not made aware of that particular pastime, but I fail to see its relevance to the conversation." Castiel's head tilted to the side.

"Yeah okay... you're an angel, sure. Why did you do it?" Dean cut in. "Why did you pull me out of Hell?"

"Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you." Castiel answered.

"And the other guy?" Dean snapped. "He part of this work as well?"

Castiel looked momentarily confused. "I do not understand. What other man are you speaking of?"

"The guy my brother worked a deal with!"

A look of understanding crossed Castiel's face. "You mean Harry Potter."

"Yeah, the demon."

Castiel frowned. "Harry Potter is not a demon."

Dean blinked. "Then what is he? An angel like you?" he scoffed at the last bit, obviously disbelieving that either of them were angels.

"No, he is a-"

"That's quite enough." All eyes turned to the doors where one Harry Potter was standing looking quite miffed. "You tell them a single thing more and I'll make sure you spend the next few centuries of your existence regretting it you bloody arrogant prick."

Dean was impressed with the amount of presence the guy had. He had to admit even Castiel seemed cowed by the man at the door and he'd just taken a demon killing knife to the chest without flinching. That didn't last long though.

"I'm afraid your threats are not needed." Castiel said turning back to the hunters. "I must leave now."

"Oh I'm sure." Harry bit out looking like a cat who'd been kicked awake.

A rush of air swept through the room and Castiel was gone.

"Wanker." Harry called after him, before turning his attention to the hunters. "Is there a reason someone in this room kept saying my name or do you like to simply invoke the contact spell I put on that card for no reason?"

Sam reached into his pocket producing the small card with Harry's name on it. He stared at it for a moment in disbelief.

"I'll take it this was an accidental contact then." Harry said looking annoyed. "Do try to keep the thing out of hearing distance of my name in the future unless you need me. I might not be as happy to help get rid of the angels next time."

"Wait." Dean said stepping forward. "You knew that guy?"

Harry threw him a glare. "I 'know him' to the extent of having met him a grand total of two times now. Neither time was he particularly chatty either." Harry threw at the man.

"Is he really an angel?" Sam asked eyes wide.

Harry folded his arms over his chest. "If I say 'yes'?"

"We'll make a call to the nearest psych ward. Nothing too dramatic." Dean said snidely.

"Have a nice day Mr. Winchester." Harry said with a venomous glare in Dean's direction before disappearing.


	3. Abduxere de Testibus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is actually one of the chapters I've been intending to rewrite the most since I made Illusions. Anyone who's read the entirety of the work pre revision knows that the rising of the witnesses didn't really make a whole lot of sense, particularly Harry's reactions. I didn't know where I'd bring this story when I did this chapter originally and it ended up with a gigantic plot hole thanks to some oversight.

Harry slammed his glass down on the polished wood of his desk. "The nerve of some hunters. Honestly, they think they're god's gift to humans. Ignorant, self important prats, the lot of them." He rumbled to himself as his office door opened. He chanced a quick glance up as he poured himself another glass.

"Is something wrong Mr. Potter?" Glenda's voice seemed strained. "You seem unhappy."

"Yes, I'm sure I do." He said rubbing a hand over his face and calming himself. "It's nothing. Did you finish the reports I asked you to do?"

She nodded placing the folders on his desk gingerly. She seemed concerned about his current demeanor but unwilling to budge into his personal problems.

"Thank you Glenda." He said downing his glass of scotch. "Why don't you take tomorrow off? Go on a long vacation with your family. I heard your son just got out of the hospital."

Glenda looked shocked that he knew anything about her personal life. "I… are you sure?" she said shifting feet.

Harry smiled up at her genuinely. "Of course I'm sure." He said. "You're a salary worker. Missing the day won't dock your pay so go ahead and enjoy yourself. You've been taking care of me too long."

She smiled brightly. "Thank you Mr. Potter." She said moving toward the exit.

"You're welcome Glenda. Have a good weekend." He said as the door slid shut.

He heaved a sigh. He hadn't slept in two days. Two damned days. Every time he closed his eyes he saw flashes of what was to be. It was damned annoying and he was getting tired of it. "Fucking angels."

He fully blamed Castiel for the little show that was going on in his head. After all, the damned angel was in more than half of the visions. Even if that didn't necessarily mean they were the angel's fault he felt he was guilty through association. Irritated, he flung his glass at the wall quietly taking pleasure from its destruction. He exhaled again. This time he could see his own breath. His eyes narrowed. "What the-"

Something hit him from behind catching him off guard and his head connected solidly with the wooden desk. He felt his nose crunch sickeningly. He forced himself to roll away from the desk and whatever had hit him. He froze, blinking dazedly at the boy before him. Barely seventeen, a way to dead with was standing there looking way too pissed. Harry blinked. "Oh man… I have got to stop drinking so much."

But he knew he was sober, or as sober as he could be after two bottles of scotch. Alcohol didn't do much for him these days. The kid shifted to face him. Harry remembered that face. He'd sold the kid out to some hunters after a deal went South and the kid had tried to... negotiate better options the hard way.

"You let me die." Alec insisted. "You could have stopped them. You could have stopped me…but you didn't."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Look…kid." Harry said frowning. "I don't really feel bad about what happened. You tried to hex me first. You couldn't have expected that to go well for you."

Alec sent another glare his way and tried to punch a spectral hand through Harry's chest.

Harry pivoted out of the way of the obvious attack but felt the icy feeling on his back just as he was disapparating. Apparently he hadn't been fast enough. When his feet made contact with the ground he rolled feeling sharp pain in his back. "Fuck!" he yelled out trying to place a hand on the injury and only succeeding in hitting whatever was lodged inside of him. "I think he got my kidney."

Shuffling footsteps had him forcing himself to his feet and turning warily toward the person approaching. He just then took in his surroundings. Cars piled on top of each other in crushed stacks as far as the eye could see. He blinked back pain and confusion. A salvage yard? Why had he ended up in a salvage yard? He definitely hadn't been aiming for a salvage yard.

"Harry?"

Harry turned his eyes in the direction of the speaker and saw an antsy Sam Winchester holding a shotgun.

He put a hand to his forehead. "Fuck." He muttered. His magic must have sent him to the last place he'd apparated that wasn't home. Why couldn't it have sent him home? 

Sam moved past him seemingly finding his presence not as important as his mission. "Bobby?!" Sam yelled.

Harry winced at the sound. He tried to disapparate again but he didn't feel the pull on his magic. He was still firmly in the salvage yard. Were kidneys inherently tied to magic use?

"Bobby!"

"Oh for the love of-" Harry said wincing at the sound of his own slightly shrill voice in the otherwise quiet junk yard. He tried to cast an advanced point me spell and was surprised when it worked. "Over there." He said pointing to a specific car stack. He leaned heavily against the nearest car.

He watched Sam attack the trunk and pop it open only to get flung back and hit the nearest car's windshield quite heavily. Harry ignored him to focus on his injury. If he wasn't mistaken whatever was causing him pain was lodged in there quite deeply. It was at too awkward an angle for him to pull with any leverage. There was no hope he'd be able to pull whatever it was out on his own and with it still wedged in there he couldn't heal it. He tried to summon the item to his hand but it didn't work. He tried to vanish the item to no avail either.

He looked up to see Bobby and Sam warily approaching. Whatever had been trapping the old hunter in the car had apparently been dispatched.They must have noticed he was acting strange. It was pretty obvious. "You okay?" Sam asked moving closer than Bobby was willing to.

"I'm bloody fantastic." Harry bit out. "You want to get whatever the hell's stuck in my back out?"

Sam's eyes shot wide at that and he moved around. "That thing's right where-"

"My kidney is?" Harry snapped. "I'm aware."

"Let's get inside." Bobby said grabbing Harry's arm and dragging him toward the house with Sam's help. It wasn't that Harry was unwilling to follow it was just that his legs chose that moment to stop functioning like he'd want them too. Too much blood loss, he'd assume. Hypovolemic shock was a bitch, hopefully he could get his wound sealed up soon.

Dean was waiting for them in the study. He eyed the new arrival to their forces with confusion, but when he saw the wound on Harry's back he stiffened.

"Bobby what do we do for a kidney injury?" Sam asked nervously.

"Normally?" Bobby said. "Leave it in there and get him to a hospital."

"Right now?" Sam asked.

"Just pull the bloody thing out." Harry snapped interrupting their conversation about him. He'd already to asked them to do it once. Did he need cue cards and a diagram? "I can't reach it or I'd do it myself."

"You'll bleed out you idjit." Bobby said in disbelief.

Harry glared. Of course they'd start treating him like a normal human now. "Pull. It. Out." He clenched his teeth as Sam hesitantly followed the command. He let out a ragged breath when he felt the thing was completely gone. He turned to Sam and spotted the offending object. "Well, bugger all. That was my favorite letter opener." The thing was bent now. There was no way he would've gotten it out on his own.

Sam just looked at him like he'd gone mad. Harry placed a hand near where the small object had penetrated his kidney and focused. His magic sputtered for a second, but it did heal the wound.

"Much better."

"Anyone want to tell me why Sean Connery is here?"

Harry couldn't help the smile that fixed on his face. "James Bond. Nice pick. I'm not entirely sure myself. Tried to apparate from my office when I got attacked. Somehow I ended up here instead of Tahiti. I think I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque."

Dean frowned and opened his mouth to argue but Sam cut him off.

"More pressing issues Dean." Sam said. "Why are people we know popping up and trying to off us?"

"Not just people we know." Dean offered. "People we couldn't save."

Harry didn't meet any of their eyes at the questioning gazes.

"I saw something on Meg." Dean continued. "Did she have a tattoo when she was alive?"

"I don't think so." Sam offered unsure.

"It was a mark on her hand. Almost a brand." Dean tried again trying to spark Sam's memory.

"I saw a mark on Henriksen too." Sam said thinking back.

"What did it look like?" Bobby asked stepping forward.

"Uh…paper?" Sam asked and began to scribble a rough draft of what he remembered before holding it up so Dean could identify it as the one he'd seen.

"Yeah. That's it." Dean said.

Harry just groaned burying his head in his hands.

"What's wrong with you?"

"The mark of the witnesses."

Sam and Dean looked lost, but the shock on Bobby's face might have been priceless in a less serious situation. Bobby turned and skimmed his shelves before grabbing a specific book. "Come on." He said shuffling to the door.

"Where are we going?" Dean asked with confusion.

"Some place safe." Bobby answered.

They made their way down some stairs and turned leading them through a basement and down a hallway that led to a large metal door.

"Bobby, is this-?"

"Solid iron. Completely coated in salt. One hundred percent ghost proof."

"You built a panic room?"

"I had a weekend off." Bobby said with a shrug.

"Bobby. You're awesome." Dean said with a smile stepping into the room.

Bobby and Sam hesitated glancing at Harry who was eying the large door with a frown. When he caught their stares he huffed but moved past them and into the room. "I'm not a fan of small spaces." Harry admitted.

"Well I guess he was telling the truth about being a demon." Dean said with a shrug.

"Thanks for the vote of support." Harry said with a frown. "I'll keep it in mind next time your soul needs dragging from the pit."

Dean's rebuke was cut off by Sam.

"What did you mean by the mark of the witnesses?" Sam asked as Bobby secured the door.

"The mark of the witness is found on people who died…abnormally." Harry supplied reluctantly. "Someone's dragging up the souls and they aren't happy about it, but the mark is a controlling device of sorts."

"They're being forced to attack. They're like rabid dogs." Bobby continued. "The mark of the witness occurs during the rising of the witnesses."

"The rising of the witnesses?" Dean asked loading rock salt into a shell.

Bobby nodded. "Whoever did this had big plans. It figures into an ancient prophecy."

"Wait, wait. A prophecy? From what book?" Dean cut in.

"Well, the widely distributed version is just for tourists, but long story short revelations. This is a sign boys."

"A sign? Of what?" Sam asked confused.

"The apocalypse."

"Wait. Apocalypse? The apocalypse, apocalypse? The four horsemen, pestilence, five-dollar-a-gallon-gas apocalypse?"

"That's the one. The rise of the witnesses is a mile marker."

"I've always hated Christianity. They have the most morbid ways of going about things." Harry supplied lazily from the chair he'd taken residence in.

"You wouldn't have anything to do with this would you?" Dean asked suspiciously.

"Yes, Dean. I like all my plans to revolve around stabbing myself in the kidney. No master plan is complete without that key detail." Harry said snippily.

Dean snorted. Harry's eyes narrowed marginally.

"What do we do?" Sam said turning to Bobby and ignoring their bickering.

"There's a spell." Bobby said flipping through the book he'd grabbed on their way down. "It'll put the souls back to rest. If I translated right we've got everything we need in the house."

"I don't suppose we can do the spell here?" Dean butted in.

"What? You thought our luck was gonna start now?" Bobby said incredulously. "The spell has to be done over an open flame."

"The fireplace in the study." Sam supplied.

Harry smirked. "Fantastic."

"Doesn't have as much appeal as a ghost proof panic room." Dean said with a frown.

"I don't think bitching about it is going to make the situation change." Harry said pushing himself up from his chair. He was light headed but otherwise he figured he would be fine. "What do you say we go and put an end to these annoying fuckers? Well, another end." Harry added with a nonchalant shrug.

Harry flung the panic room's door open and stepped out.

Dean shared a look with Sam and Bobby. "That guy is seriously twisted."

"He's right though." Bobby said grabbing his book and following. "We need to work quick. Sam upstairs linen cabinet. There's a red box. Get it. Dean kitchen, silverware drawer. There's a false bottom."

They'd made it upstairs to see Harry standing by the unlit fireplace.

"Hemlock. Opium. Wormwood."

"Got it." Dean said as Bobby laid salt lines. He made toward the kitchen only to stop and glance back. "Opium?"

Bobby gave him an exasperated look. "Go!"

"Bobby." The small girl at the edge of the salt line called to the aged hunter. "You could have sa-"

Bobby heard a snap behind him and the two ghosts dispelled. Harry stood there glaring at where they had been before turning back to the fire place and arranging the wood he'd found to the side. "Is there a particular way the fire has to be lit?" Harry asked staring at the wood.

Bobby glanced over his shoulder. "No." He'd barely gotten the word out before flames leaped up the wood.

"Harry."

Bobby's head whipped around at the sound of another voice.

"Fancy meeting you here." A slim, tall brunette stood there. She was eying Harry like he was the last person she ever wanted to see. The anger in those eyes was unbelievable. "Shame you couldn't put aside your e-"

Another snap this time not even dignified with Harry's turning around and the ghost disappeared.

The door to the kitchen slammed shut and Bobby glanced at it, then Harry, unsure. "Dean!" Bobby called.

"I'm fine Bobby!" came Dean's reply. "Keep going!"'

Bobby turned his attention back to the bowls in front of him and he began preparing what ingredients he had in front of him. The less time they took once the boys were back with the rest the better. The spirits were sure to sense their intent at some point. His hands shook as he separated out what he needed.

Every time a ghost even started to manifest Harry would snap his fingers and send it packing much to Bobby's relief. He really didn't think he could concentrate while ghosts were harping him about his failures.

A gunshot from the kitchen told them that Dean was having his own encounter. Less than a minute later the door slammed open revealing Sam lugging a panting Dean. Both held their respective items out to Bobby.

Bobby hastily grabbed what he needed adding it to the bowl with the already prepared ingredients.

"What, no chicken feet?" Harry joked but it sounded strained to all of them.

Bobby shot him a half hearted glare before starting up a chant. The windows burst open the moment the first word had left his lips.

"Well, that's not good." Harry said as wind whipped through the room.

Apparitions seemed to come out of nowhere, too many to really focus on all of them. Apparently this was a last ditch effort to stop the spell. Harry watched as Sam began to struggle with a moderately attractive blonde while Dean took on an overweight man. The little girls stood staring at the salt line which Harry had already deemed a lost cause. It would be gone in a few more seconds. Bobby's chanting became faster as he realized their urgency of the situation.

Harry snapped his fingers as the salt line finally broke. A newly reappeared Alec had been the first to try to cross and as such the first to dissipate. Harry turned his attention to the small girls trapping Sam. Bobby gave a pained grunt beside him and he turned only to see the bowl falling. "Dean!" Bobby managed to force out.

Harry snapped his fingers and the blonde woman disappeared as Dean caught the bowl.

"Fireplace." Bobby got out as he fell. Harry caught him before he could hit the desk.

Dean tossed the bowl in the lit fire and a new wind seemed to sweep through the room taking the spirits with it. Silence echoed for a second before Sam shoved a heavy desk which had been pinning him to the wall away and stumbled over.

Harry released Bobby and brushed off his suit, not that the thing was salvageable. A damn shame too. It had cost him more than some people made in a month.

"Well, that was mildly entertaining." Harry said with a huff.

Three sets of eyes turned on him incredulously. He shrugged. Dean's face slowly turned to one of hostility.

"So why are you here anyway?" He asked indicating the room.

"Watch your tone." Harry warned. "I'm not in the best of moods at the moment. I might decide you'd be better off without a tongue."

All three looked wary at that threat.

"You will not harm Dean Winchester."

Harry couldn't repress the groan that fought its way up his throat. "Oh god." He said rubbing his temples. "Not you again. What, ran out of baseball games to influence?"

Castiel's head tilted slightly belying his confusion at the statement. "I have not been near any human recreational sports." He turned to Dean. "Good job with the witnesses."

"Hullo." Harry said raising a hand in a sarcastic wave. "Not like he did it alone."

"Your help, while unexpected, was beneficial." Castiel admitted. "You have our gratitude."

"Fantastic. Gratitude. Just what everyone wants for Christmas. You can skip the Mercedes this year Santa." Harry stood from where he'd been leaning against the wall. "I don't suppose you can tell me why my magic went wonky and sent me here? You see, I have a few theories about it myself and none of them have anything to do with my magic doing it on its own. Now then, if you're ready to make your 'grace' stop interfering with my apparition skills I'm gonna jet. I have work to do after all."

Castiel looked mildly shocked. "You knew?"

"I had my suspicions. Thanks for confirming them. By the way," Harry moved closer to Castiel until he leaning only a few inches from the angel's borrowed face. "Mess with my magic again and you won't like the consequences." With that threat hanging in the air he disappeared.

The room seemed unnaturally tense after the Brit's departure. "Will he be okay?" Bobby finally spoke up slumping back into his chair. "He was stabbed after all."

Castiel seemed to contemplate the question for a moment. "He will be fine." He turned his attention to Dean when he spoke up.

"So you knew about all of this?"

Castiel's face remained completely blank. It disturbed Dean. "I was made aware of it, yes."

"Well gee. Thanks for the heavenly assistance. You know I almost got my heart ripped out of my chest. "

"But you didn't." Castiel said in a way that was not at all reassuring.

"I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Fluffy wing, halos. You know Micheal Landon…not dicks."

Sam swore he saw just the slightest flicker of annoyance in Castiel's eyes but it didn't touch his face. "Read the bible. Angels are warriors of God. I'm a soldier."

"Yeah? Then why didn't you fight?"

"I'm not here to perch on your shoulder. We had bigger concerns." Castiel said moving a bit too close to Dean for comfort. Without so much as blinking Castiel stepped forward and placed his fingers on Sam's and Bobby's foreheads. They slumped in their chairs. "There's a reason I sent him here."

"What the hell did you just do?" Dean asked moving to his brother's side eyes flicking worriedly between Sam and Bobby.

"I've put them to sleep. It's only temporary."

"Why?" Dean's voice was laced with distrust.

"They mustn't hear what I'm going to tell you." Castiel took a step back. "We sent Harry here as a sort of test."

"A test?" Dean barked out laughter. "Well did we pass your heavenly test?"

"Not a test for you." Castiel said with a frown. "A test for him. We had to make sure he would aid you if push came to shove. We needed to know where his intentions lie."

"Well I hate to break it to you but the guy was definitely only helping so he wouldn't end up being stabbed in the kidney twice." Dean said derisively. "Can't say I blame him, but seriously what is he anyway?"

"I'm afraid I'm unable to tell you that at the moment."

Dean felt anger throttle through him full force. His argument with Castiel wasn't a pleasant one from that point forward, and it ended on a startling note when Castiel threatened to throw Dean back into Hell shortly before his abrupt departure.

 

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If Harry had been unhappy with the Winchesters before he was absolutely livid now. Dean in particular he'd grown to dislike. The guy was way too self centered and unwilling to trust others. A damned fool, set in his ways. He supposed Dean reminded Harry of himself too much, or at least the man he'd become. He tossed away the file he'd been reading on the two. Bobby Singer's file lay beneath a pile of others.

"Making friends everywhere you go."

Harry didn't even bother to raise his eyes from the dark wood grain of his desk. "What do you want Gabriel."

"Oh please. Don't call me that." Gabriel said in a pouting tone.

If Harry didn't have splitting head ache he might have humored the angel sitting in front of him, as it was he directed a particularly vicious glare his way.

"Oh, I know that glare. You've been hanging out with the Winchesters again." The angel said with a smile.

"What do you want? I'm not in the mood right now." And he wasn't. He had gotten next to no sleep again, dreams plaguing his sleeping and waking moments.

Gabriel stood and stretched forward placing a bottle of aspirin on the desk. Harry took one look at it and groaned. "Just came to drop off a gift. I heard you ran into my little brother and that you weren't too happy with him."

"You could say that." Harry said popping the top off of the aspirin and sniffing at the bottle. "These real or did you just magic them up like you do everything else? I don't need an imaginary cure."

"I grabbed them from the convenience store down the street." Gabriel said with a smile.

"Fantastic." Harry said popping several in his mouth and swallowing them dry. "Did you seriously come here just to check up on your 'little brother'?"

"You doubt my intentions." Gabriel said with mock shock.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'd be an idiot if I took you at face value." He said sliding out of his chair. "I'm going home to sleep. If you want to talk we can do it tomorrow."

Gabriel shrugged, but it was obvious he had more to say. It wasn't like the angel to just drop by. "I didn't really come to talk. Just the gift. Goodnight Harry."

Gabriel disappeared from the room moments before Harry himself did. The inconspicuous bottle of pills still lay on the desk forgotten.

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Dean certainly wasn't in the best of moods, Sam noticed. He wanted to say something to his older brother but was worried that anything he said would set the hunter off.

Dean was pacing back and forth angrily in Bobby's study while the older man flipped through book after book to no avail. Every once in a while Dean would stop, look at Bobby and ask, "Anything?"

It was like a sort of routine he was developing and Sam could see it was starting to wear on Bobby's nerves and the last thing Sam wanted was to be in a room with two grumpy hunters. "I'm going to go grab something to eat." Sam offered.

"Pie." Dean said simply.

Sam knew the demand well enough and he smiled at the familiarity of it. He was still getting used to having Dean back. He had to keep reminding himself that the last week or so hadn't been some really long, elaborate dream. "Right. You want anything specific Bobby." Bobby waved a hand dismissively, Sam's signal that he was fine with whatever. "I'll be back." He assured them as he made for the door.

Dean slammed himself onto Bobby's couch. "I don't get it." He said running a hand through his hair. "He can be injured, but heals like crazy fast. He's not hurt by rock salt, silver, or iron. Why can't we find any lore on him? Just what the hell is he?"

Bobby shrugged closing another book. "I don't know. I've been looking for days and I can't find anything that matches his description."

Dean let out a frustrated sigh. "There's nothing? Not a single thing on the guy?"

"It's startin' to look that way." Bobby said pushing away the nearest stack of books like they were covered in anthrax. "I don't know why you're so obsessed with finding a way to kill him anyway. All he's done is help since he showed up."

"Because that's what we do Bobby. We find the supernatural freaks," He moved his hands from left to right. "and we gank them. It's that simple."

"I don't think it is that simple kid." Bobby said readjusting his hat. "The world's not made of black and white. There are grey areas. Maybe this Harry guy is one of them. Not everything is evil."

Dean scowled. "Well, I'm not going to trust him." He said stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest.

Bobby rolled his eyes. He was used to Dean being stubborn, but not this stubborn. Usually Bobby could talk reason into him. Bobby frowned. Dean was becoming more and more like his old man. It wasn't a trait Bobby could admit to admiring. He hoped he wouldn't have to threaten Dean with a shotgun like he had John someday.

Sam trudged back in about thirty minutes later carrying bags of food much to Bobby's relief. It wasn't that the man was particularly hungry. It was just that Dean always seemed to be in a better mood after eating. He sincerely hoped Sam hadn't forgotten the kid's pie. He didn't want to hear more bellyaching about Dean's favorite food being gone.

Bobby plopped himself into one of the dining room chairs. "So I take it you boys will be leaving again soon?" He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Sam and Dean were the closest thing he had to family, but he was certainly tired of Dean's attitude at the moment. He figured a hunt would do wonders for his attitude problem.

Sam looked to Dean as usual to make the call. Dean shrugged. "Probably in the morning."


	4. Angelus Sine Alis

Dean took one glance at his phone and flipped it open. He hadn't been expecting a call from Bobby so it worried him that he was getting one. "Bobby? Is something wrong?"

Sam glanced up from where he'd been leaning against the bar. They'd stopped at the bar for some relaxation, and to make a few bucks. The moment he saw Dean's phone close he was asking questions. "Dean, what's up? Is everything okay with Bobby?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah Bobby's great."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Then why the sudden call?"

"Bobby took a trip out of country."

Sam gave him an incredulous look. "And?"

"He might have found something on Harry." Dean caught Sam's distracted gaze and followed it as he pushed past. "Damn it."

"Ruby." Sam said as he got close.

Dean placed a hand on Sam's shoulder pulling him back slightly. "Well don't you have a lot of nerve showing up anywhere near me." He said glaring.

"I just have some info, and then I'm gone." Ruby said raising her hands almost defensively.

"What is it?"

"I'm hearing a few whispers."

"Ooh, great, demon whisperers - that's reliable." Dean bit out.

Ruby ignored him. "Girl named Anna Milton escaped from a locked ward yesterday. The demons seem pretty keen on finding her. Apparently, some real heavy hitters turned out for the Easter-egg hunt."

"Why? Who is she?"

"No idea." She answered leaning back. "But I'm thinking that she's important, 'cause the order is to capture her alive. I just figured that whatever the deal is, you might want to find this girl before the demons do."

"Look, maybe we should check it out." Sam reasoned with Dean.

"Actually, we're working a case, but thanks." Dean said still glaring. Sure the news piqued his interest but he'd rather chew off his own leg than admit that to a demon, especially this particular demon.

"What case?"

"Uh, we've got leads, big leads."

"Sounds dangerous."

"Yeah, well, it sure ain't goose-chasing after some chick who, for all we know, doesn't even exist, just because you say she's important."

"I'm just delivering the news. You can do whatever you want with it. Far as I'm concerned, I told you, I'm done." She said pushing past Sam toward the exit.

"Wait, wait, wait. This hospital Anna escaped from - it got a name?"

 

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Harry tilted his head to the side giving Gabriel a thoughtful glare. "You're serious?"

"Dead serious." He said holding up his hands and showing his fingers weren't crossed, though to Harry that meant little.

"You have no idea what this is all about either?"

Gabriel shook his head.

"Well that puts a stopper in my plans." Harry admitted with a frustrated sigh.

"How so?"

"Well, as I see it I have a few options." Harry said leaning back in his chair. Gabriel had to admit he did the corporate badass vibe quite well. "Option one ignore the whole mess. I've discarded that as I'll probably be left with the clean up as I often am, one way or another. I could let the demons have her, but let's be honest. They're the ones who'd make the mess in the first place. I could let the angels kill her, but then I'm down one valuable object and bargaining chip that could be immensely useful. Finally I could step in and take her for myself. There is quite a bit of garnered interest around her."

"You make her sound like an antique."

Harry shrugged. "I have too many options." He said frowning. "And I have no idea what she is either. She could be a hot commodity because she knows valuable information, or she could just be interesting to both sides because she has a rare bloodline. Or maybe she's a great vessel. Holy hell the possibilities are over whelming."

Gabriel just smiled around his chocolate.

Harry rubbed his temples. "I suppose this means I'll have to go see what this is all about doesn't it?" he said voice full of remorse.

"I pity you." Gabriel said mockingly.

"You should." Harry said knowingly. "I'm about to put myself in between angels and demons who are squabbling about whose turn it is with the new toy. The last time I did that I became the subject of interest."

Gabriel nodded. He knew what Harry was referring to. He'd been one of the curious angels back then too. He met Harry's eyes and smirked. The man clearly hadn't forgotten his involvement, but he didn't mention it either.

Harry stood, grabbing a coat from the wall. "Well, if I've learned one thing from roughing it with the Winchesters it would have to be 'don't wear your nice clothes'." Harry said pulling on the jacket. "They're liable to come out of the fray looked quite tattered. I'll be heading out now. I don't suppose you want to join me?"

Gabriel shook his head still smirking. "Good luck. You'll need it."

Harry muttered as he apparated away from his office.

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It hadn't taken long for Sam to find out that Anna Milton was indeed real, and she was indeed missing. They tracked her down to her church and from there things had gotten…complicated. They hadn't counted on demons popping out of nowhere. Powerful ones at that. They'd been lucky to escape relatively unscathed. Well, if you didn't count the stitches in Sam's arm and Dean's dislocated shoulder.

It hadn't taken long to get to the cabin Ruby had hidden Anna in. Sam only hoped that didn't mean it would be easy for the demons to find as well.

"They're coming!" Anna said in a near panic startling them all from their thoughts.

"Back room." Dean said leading Anna away while Sam and Ruby began grabbing things to defend themselves.

"Where's the knife?" Ruby asked checking the bag over again.

"Uh…about that." Dean said rubbing his neck.

"You're kidding." She said venomously.

"Hey, don't look at me." Dean said raising his hands and looking in Sam's direction. Ruby followed his gaze and directed her glare at Sam instead.

"Thanks a lot." Sam said sarcastically in Dean's direction.

A knock at the door wasn't exactly what they'd been expecting. Sam and Dean shared a glance. Sam nodded moving forward, gun drawn. He grabbed the door knob and pulled it open quickly revealing a slightly disheveled Harry.

"Oh please." He said looking at Sam's gun. "Put that away. You're going to hurt yourself."

Dean blinked. Harry looked dramatically different without the business suit. He was wearing dark jeans and a light blue button down. "What are you doing here?" Dean ground out suspiciously.

Harry smirked. "I heard you're hiding a sec…" Harry's eyes stopped on Ruby. He whistled lowly. "The Winchesters hanging out with demons. What has the world come to?"

"Answer the question." Dean pressured catching Ruby's nervous look.

"Well, you see. I've heard that you found that girl who has been clogging up the information channels for the past few weeks." Harry said buffing his nails against his shirt. "I figured, hell, why not figure out what all the buzz is about."

The door, which Sam had closed upon Harry's entrance, burst open. A moment later Castiel and Uriel rounded the corner.

"Fantastic." Harry snorted. "All of my least favorite people in the same room, well…most of them. This ought to go swimmingly."

Uriel focused on him immediately. "You shouldn't be here."

"Uriel, focus." Castiel reminded the other angel.

"Please tell me you're here to help." Dean said stepping forward. "We've been having demon issues all day."

"I can see that." Uriel supplied eying Ruby. "Care to explain why you have that stain in the room?"

If Ruby had looked uncomfortable upon Harry's arrival she looked damn near ready to bolt now.

"We're here for Anna." Castiel said focusing on Dean.

"Here for her…like, here for her?" Dean asked blinking back surprise.

"No, they want to take her to dinner and a movie." Harry snapped sarcastically.

"You're not going to help her?" Sam said in that overly trusting way of his.

Harry rubbed his temples.

"No, she has to die." Castiel said bluntly.

"Die?!" Sam's voice pitched up an octave.

"Move." Uriel said trying to go past Dean.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I get that she's been wiretapping your angel chats, but that's no reason to gank her."

"Don't worry. I'll kill her gently." Uriel said with a sadistic smile

"You're some heartless sons of bitches you know that?" Dean bit out.

"As a matter of fact we are. And?" Castiel questioned.

Harry laughed whole heartedly at that confusing everyone in the room. "Ah…sorry." He said placing a hand on his own chest and breathing deeply. "Keep going. It's cute."

Castiel frowned uncomprehendingly. Uriel made a move to pass again but Sam blocked him. "Anna's an innocent girl."

"She's far from innocent." Castiel corrected.

"What's that mean?" Sam said straightening to his full height even if he didn't think it would intimidate and angel.

"It means she's worse than that abomination you've been screwing." Uriel supplied. "Now give us the girl."

"Sorry. Find another one. Try Jdate."

"Who's going to stop us? You two? Your demon whore? The blasphemer in the corner?" Uriel said grabbing Ruby and throwing her into the wall.

"Oh. Blasphemer." Harry said nodding, a hard glint in his eyes. "Original."

Castiel advanced on Sam as Dean took on Uriel. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this." Uriel said punching Dean in the jaw.

"Cas…please…" Sam begged, but Castiel didn't stop and merely tapped the taller man on the forehead knocking him unconscious. Castiel stopped when he saw Harry standing in front of the door.

"I do not wish to harm you." Castiel said obviously meaning he wanted Harry to step aside. Harry thought it was kind of adorably admirable that the angel thought he really had the abilility to do any lasting damage. Castiel's head dipped to the side when Harry made no move to stop his advance. "Why are you here?"

"Curiosity." Harry said a snide smile working its way onto his face. "It's my one personality flaw."

A bright light filled the room and suddenly Castiel, Uriel, and Harry were gone.

"What the-?" Dean said blinking. He moved toward the back room past a stirring Sam. "Anna?" Dean's eyes grew wide at the sheer amount of blood covering the dresser in front of her.

"Are…are they gone?" she asked, seemingly in shock.

"Did you kill them?"

"No. I sent them away." She said sounding a tad unsure. "Far away."

"You want to tell me how?" He asked, anger spiking.

"That popped in my head." She nodded to the mirror attached to the dresser where a sigil was drawn in her blood. "I don't know how I did it. I just did."

Dean shook his head taking Anna's arm. The cuts weren't terribly bad but she'd been lucky she hadn't killed herself. The amount of blood on the dresser was scary. "Come on." Dean said helping her stand. "We'll get this cleaned up."

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Both Winchesters were suspicious of Anna. She knew way too much. It was no wonder the angels wanted her dead, but Castiel had said she wasn't innocent. What had that meant? And then there was Harry. He'd shown up without any explanation and vanished just as quickly. It raised questions about his origins if a sigil meant to ward off angels affected him.

"So what do we do?" Sam asked propping himself up on Bobby's kitchen table. They'd made the short trip there so they could be 'safe', as Dean had called it. Sam wasn't sure what the panic room would do against angels.

Dean shrugged. "We could call that psychic friend of Bobby's, see what she can do."

"I don't know how I feel about involving even more people in this Dean." Sam said with a frown.

"What choice do we have Sam?" Dean asked popping open a beer. "We need answers and no one else can get them. It'd be nice to know why she went bonkers in the first place."

"Why don't you just ask me to my face?" Anna asked standing in the doorway.

Dean felt like slapping his hand across his face. "Nice job watching her." He spit at Ruby who rolled her eyes.

"I am watching her."

"No, you're right. Anna is there anything you want tell us?" Sam took over. He was always better with the whole nice routine anyway.

"About what?"

"The angels said you were guilty of something. Why would they say that?"

"She doesn't know."

Dean had his gun out and pointed towards the speaker in half a second.

"Impressive reaction time." Harry said stepping into the kitchen's lighted area. "But if I have to tell you Winchesters not to point your guns at me one more time today I'm going to end up breaking one of your wrists."

Dean glared but slowly lowered the gun. "How did you find us so fast?"

Harry took two steps forward and stuck his fingers into the pocket of Dean's shirt. He withdrew them a second later holding a small business card.

"How many of those things do you have?" Dean asked, disgusted that Harry had gotten close enough to slip something on him without his knowledge.

"You realize that if you find the right printer business cards only cost ten dollars for about three hundred." Harry said shaking his head. "I'd hook you up with the number of my printer, but somehow I doubt 'hunter of the supernatural' would come across with flying colors when you hand out your contact info."

"I don't mean business cards!" Dean said indignantly. "I mean magical…tracking…you know what…never mind. What are you doing here?"

"Did you come to kill Anna?" Sam asked suddenly a bit nervous. He doubted he'd get off with a simple tap to the head and unconsciousness if they fought Harry. He didn't seem as keen on the well being of the two hunters as Castiel was

"Kill Anna?" Harry said placing a hand on his chest in mock indignation. "Why it's like you think I'm a heartless villain or something."

"Or something." Dean agreed under his breath, but if the glint in Harry's eye was any indicator he'd heard.

"No, I didn't come to kill Anna." Harry spat out. "I came out of curiosity. You see all of my information networks are just buzzing about this 'Anna' chick. So I thought I'd pop by and see what it was all about. Clearly it was a waste of my time though." He said with a roll of his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Anna asked staring at him in a way that made him uncomfortable.

"I mean that you're much less 'spectacular' than I thought you'd be." Harry huffed. "Honestly you wouldn't be worth the effort of trafficking. There are very few demons I'd trust enough to deal with and none of the ones I do business with would be particularly interested in you."

"You know something that you're not telling us." Sam caught on.

Harry blinked. "Well I do now." He said with a shrug. "I had my suspicions before but they were definitely solidified when I saw her, and-" He cut off giving Anna an odd look when she placed a hand on his face. He hadn't really been paying her attention and she had crossed the small space between them while he'd been talking.

"Uh…Anna?" Dean said giving the two of them an odd look of his own. "You want to explain why you're feeling the British guy up?"

"You can't see it?" she asked pulling her hand back slowly. Harry stepped away eying her warily now.

"See what Anna?" Sam asked glancing between the two.

"His real face."

"His real face?" Dean scoffed.

Anna just nodded. "Like with Ruby and the other demons. I could see their true faces…and I can see his."

"So he is a demon!" Dean said leveling his gun again.

"No!" Anna said shaking her head. "He's not. I don't…I don't know what he is." She admitted.

If scowls could create storms there would be a tornado in Bobby's kitchen courtesy of Harry. "Fun as this has been kiddies I think I'm gonna jet. I've had enough weird for one day." And he was gone just like that.

Dean heaved a sigh. "What the hell is going on!"

"Anna what exactly did you see when you looked at him?" Sam asked curiously.

"Light." She said at first as if thinking about how to describe him. "It was beautiful."

"Like an angel?" Sam asked hopefully. They'd been trying to peg down what the guy was for so long. Maybe he'd been an angel the whole time.

She shook her head. "No…and yes." She said frowning. "It reminded me of the light I saw coming from the angels…but different. It seemed kinder."

"Kinder." Dean scoffed. Kind wasn't a word he associated with the man who'd just left them to their own devices against Heaven and Hell. "Well, he didn't want to kill you, maybe he just toned down the angel juice."

Sam shook his head at his brother. "He seemed to know who Anna is though."

"Yeah. He also said he had demon contacts. The guy's bad news Sam."

"Dude…Ruby." Sam said gesturing to the demon in the room who held up her hands obviously wanting no part in the argument. "Maybe, but we could just-"

"Forget it Sam." Dean said taking a swig of beer. "We're calling that psychic chick…Pamela or something like that."

Sam scowled. "Fine."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sam blinked. Anna was an angel? A freaking angel? She was being hunted by her own kind, and for what? Disobedience. If that was a sin punishable by death Sam should be dead a thousand times over by then. He disobeyed everyone eventually. Hell, didn't everyone?

"So we're stuck in the middle." Dean summed up nicely.

"It's a battle between Heaven and Hell and we're holding the prize." Ruby said throwing up her hands. "We're just begging for death right now."

"I'm sorry." Anna said looking a bit sheepish.

"Maybe we could ask Ha-"

"For the last time 'no' Sam!" Dean cut Sam off. "Why are you so hell bent on getting the guy's help anyway?"

"Because he's not on either side Dean!" Sam countered. His voice was louder now, not willing to be silenced by his older brother. "And he's helped before! Maybe he'll help again if we give him the chance. Why are you so scared to ask him for help!?"

Dean blinked, before leveling a fierce glare at Sam. He opened his mouth to argue only to stop when Anna spoke.

"He's right. We should ask for help. I'm not sure he will help, but it's worth a shot. He usually remains neutral."

Dean blinked. "You know what he is?"

Anna nodded. "He's less of a 'what' and more of a 'who'."

"Alright, and?" Dean bit out when she didn't continue.

She shook her head. "Perhaps afterward, but he's more likely to help if I haven't told you."

"Why?" Sam asked curiously.

"He likes his secrets." Anna said looking apologetic. "There's a reason he doesn't tell people."

"Whatever." Dean said waving a hand at Sam. "I'm guessing you've still got his magic card?"

Sam looked hesitant to admit that he did, but he pulled it from his shirt pocket. Dean gave the thing a dirty look. "Harry Potter."

A minute passed. Then two more in complete silence. "Guess he's not coming." Dean said trying not to sound as happy as he felt.

"Guess again."

Dean jerked but had sense enough not pull his gun.

"What do you blundering idiots want?" Harry asked stepping nearer to the cabin where the light could hit him. He was wearing his suit again. "I was about to take a plane to Russia for a business conference. Now I've had to cunfund an entire airline staff into thinking there's a passenger on the plane when there isn't."

"Yeah. Sounds tiring." Dean scoffed.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "It's not particularly. Dealing with you, however, I find exceedingly draining. It takes concentrated effort to dumb down my sentences enough for you to understand them."

"Dean." Sam warned when it was obvious Dean was about to snap back.

Harry turned his gaze to Sam. "Why did you call me?" he asked with a frown. "And it had better be a good reason or I'm going to get angry."

"I would say 'you wouldn't like him when he's angry', but I already don't like him now." Dean spat out.

Harry snapped his fingers. "Hush now. The grownups are talking."

Dean opened his mouth to respond only to find he made no noise.

"That's not…permanent…is it?" Sam asked nervously.

"No, but I could sever his vocal chords if you find you like the change." Harry offered with a grin. "I find it quite soothing myself."

Dean glared.

"We were hoping you'd help me." Anna finally spoke up.

Harry turned his attention on her. He seemed to consider it for a minute. "I don't work for free sweetheart." He said crossing his arms. "Just because you're an angel doesn't mean you get a freebie. Or perhaps I should say because you're an angel."

"What do you want?" Sam asked confused.

Harry paused to consider it. "Well, in all honesty while you Winchesters are all the hype in the rumor mill you're not exactly rolling in items I'd like to acquire." He said pausing and then smiling wickedly. "Although I've heard you've recently come by a dagger that can kill demons. Now that's something that could fetch a hefty sum."

"No deal James Bond." Ruby said stepping forward. "The idiots lost the knife, and even if they hadn't I wouldn't let them give it to you."

Harry's smile faded just the slightest bit. "Big words coming from the biggest traitor in hell. Do you know how many demons would pay untold sums just to know where you are?" He asked stepping forward and tapping her on the nose. "Consider it good faith that I haven't sold you out already. Yes, I noticed you trying to slink into the background earlier. You really must work on hiding that ridiculous stench that seeps off of your kind. It's stomach turning." He sneered.

Ruby looked good and wary now. Just what he wanted. 

"Is there anything else?" Sam asked with a sigh figuring Harry would tell them no and then disappear.

Harry turned a smile on him. "I'm feeling generous tonight Sam." He said splaying his hands. "I'm willing to rehash our old deal."

"The ring?" Sam asked confused.

"What ring?" Ruby asked warily.

"Oh, you'll know which ring. Trust me."

"You can't mean that ring." Anna said eyes wide.

Harry smiled. "Indeed." He said rubbing his ring finger.

"Then."

"Yes." Harry said cutting her off.

"Would you stop talking in riddles!?" Dean yelled and then seemed surprised that he could talk at all.

Harry turned amused eyes on him. "They're hardly riddles."

"If you want Sammy to get this ring for you you're gonna have to tell us more about it. For all we know handing it to you could mean the end of the universe or something." Dean said angrily.

"Oh hardly." Harry scoffed. "I've owned it before and you still exist don't you?"

At their disbelieving looks Harry sighed but shrugged.

"You won't find the ring yet. It's not even on Earth. It's-" Harry started.

"Where is it then?" Dean asked.

Harry glared. "Hell. Don't interrupt me again unless you enjoy being unable to speak." He watched Dean rub his throat before continuing. "In a few months the seals will fall."

Sam let out a gasp that Harry chose to ignore. Harry liked theatrics, but the gasp had been a tad melodramatic in his opinion. Wasn't it obvious at this point?

"When they do you'll end up looking for four rings. I only want one of them. Its stone is white."

"Why is the ring in hell?" Dean asked warily.

"It's sealed up down there with its temporary owner." Harry spat the last two words as though he'd tasted something foul.

"Lucifer?" Sam asked fearfully.

"No." Harry answered blankly. "Death."

That garnered a few astonished looks.

"Alright." Harry said waving his hand. "That's enough story time for now. Do we have a deal or not?"

"Yes." Sam said slightly unsure. He'd been positive last time as it had been Dean's soul in the balance. Anna was different, but he couldn't let her die if he had the power to stop it right? Still, he hadn't realized the stakes he'd originally agreed to months ago had been so high.

"Fantastic." Harry said with a smile. He snapped his fingers and Anna clutched her chest emitting a squeak of pain.

"What was that?" she said clutching at her ribs.

"Enochian sigils." Harry said with a shrug. "I doubt you'll need them once you've relearned how to control your power, but for now…" He shrugged. "They'll ward you from angels."

"Great." Dean said caustically. "But what about the demons?"

"You think they have a good way to find her?" Harry scoffed. "The only way they're finding her is if she sends the invitation. I may have agreed to protect her but I can't take away free will. If she wants them to kill her I say good riddance."

"Guys." Anna said hand floating up to her head and interrupting whatever Dean was about to say. "The angels are talking."

"What are they saying?" Sam asked wide eyed. It couldn't be a coincidence that they'd started talking right after Harry had hidden Anna right?

"It's a message. Like a loop." She said frowning. She opened her eyes and fixed Dean with a stare. "It says Dean Winchester gives us Anna by midnight….or we hurl him back into damnation."

Harry grimaced. "Troubling news." He clapped his hands. "Well, we'll be on our way won't we Anna." He held out his hand to her.

She stared back with shock.

"You agreed to help!" Sam argued.

"I agreed to help Anna." Harry countered. "Which is best done with her out of sight. I do wish you the best of luck climbing back out of hell though Dean. Wretched place, could do with a few less hooks."

Ruby scoffed. "As trustworthy as a demon." Then she was kneeling on the ground writhing.

"I take insult to that." Harry said eyes blazing.

"Stop." Sam pleaded stepping in front of Ruby. "Please."

Harry blinked and Ruby fell onto her hands panting. "Cute Sam. Sticking up for the one who will lead you to ruin. Cute."

"I'm staying here." Anna said garnering Harry's attention.

"I don't think so love." Harry said swinging a small bag back and forth.

"Is that our hex bag?" Dean asked looking at the thing warily.

"That it is." Harry said pocketing the small bag. "You see Anna. It makes my job much easier for you to be in a safe room."

"I don't care how easy your job is." She said crossing her arms. "I got the Winchesters into this and I won't leave them now."

Harry let out a sigh. "Of course not." He tossed the hex bag to Sam. "I assume you're staying in the ramshackle cabin? Fantastic. I'll be inside ramming my head against a wall until the danger comes."

Three of the four left watched him swagger off toward the entrance. Dean's eyes were glued on Ruby. He was itching to put a few bullets in her, but he knew it wouldn't do anything to the demon inside the meat suit.

"What did he mean?" Dean asked still focused on Ruby.

"You're going to have to be more specific sparky." Ruby said when she realized his eyes were on her. "That guy's a bag full of crazy. It's not like I'm in tune with his deeper meanings."

"He said you'd lead my brother to ruin!" Dean said accusingly. "Or did you just happen to forget that little tidbit?"

"Dean calm down." Sam said placing his hands on Dean's chest when he made to lunge for her. "We don't know what he meant. Maybe he's wrong."

"He didn't sound like the type who's wrong often Sammy!" Dean said glaring at his brother for defending the demon.

"Yeah? Well he also said that the seals would break Dean!" Sam snapped back. "The angels and us. We're all trying to stop that!"

"Now's not the time to fight amongst ourselves." Anna said placing a placating hand on Dean's shoulder. "We'll have plenty of time to deal with this later. For now we should get inside. I'm sure he's warding the place despite what he said."

"Great." Dean said shrugging off the angel's hand and stalking angrily toward the door.

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Harry sat in an overlarge arm chair rubbing his temples. No one had said a word to him since reentering the cabin, but he could feel Sam's eyes burning into his back every once in a while. He dutifully ignored the man in favor of the blissful silence which had permeated the air. He counted himself thankful that, at the very least, the morons he'd agreed to protect hadn't gone gallivanting about inviting demons in to find Anna.

He let out a sigh as the large doors that took up an entire wall flung inwards. Castiel and Uriel stood in the doorway. Uriel looked a little too smug for Harry's liking. It just so happened Harry's chair had been facing their direction too so he got to see the angel's over dramatic entrance. He would give it a three out of ten. It needed work. It lacked a snappy one liner or explosion.

"It's good to see you again Anna." Castiel said nodding in Anna's direction.

"How did you find us?" Sam asked confused and glancing over at Harry.

Harry raised his hands in mock surrender. "The sigils are working. Don't look at me." Harry said with a surprising amount of disinterest.

"Dean?" Sam said taking in his brother's guilty look.

"I'm sorry." He said not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Why?"

"Because they gave him a choice. They either kill me… or they kill you." Anna said gazing knowingly at the other two angels in the room.

"I always did like ultimatums myself." Harry added a bored look on his face. Dean shot him a glare which he smiled at.

"I'm sorry." Castiel started.

"No you're not. Not really. You don't know the feeling." Anna bit out rather harshly eliciting a low whistle from Harry.

"Hitting below the belt this early? Play fair Anna, you should know angels have emotions. After all, they caused you to fall didn't they?" Harry said finally standing. The chair he'd been occupying vanished into nothing. "I prefer to think that you're all just emotionally constipated. IE you have no idea what the feelings mean." He wiggled his fingers to emphasize.

Castiel was giving Harry a curious look. "You must not interfere. We have-"

"Orders?" Anna cut in.

Castiel nodded.

"Don't you touch a hair on that poor girl's head."

Harry turned to the room's newest addition and groaned. "Not you." He said lip curling in disgust. He stood corrected as well. Apparently the morons had invited demons to this little shindig.

"How dare you come into this room you pussing sore." Uriel spat.

Harry rolled his eyes. Well that statement had certainly clarified why the angels hadn't had a snappy one liner. Clearly their wit had shriveled and was in danger of turning into dust.

"Name calling. That hurt my feelings...you sanctimonious, fanatical prick." The demon quipped back.

Harry had to admit he'd choose the demon's side if this was a war in insults. "Now, now girls. You're both very pretty." Harry said patting the air and earning a snort from Dean despite the situation. "But if you wouldn't mind leaving I'd appreciate it. You see, I've decided Miss Anna here would make an interesting acquisition."

"Mr. Potter." The demon said rounding on him as he tossed an injured Ruby to the side. "What an…honor. I haven't seen you since you were on my rack downstairs. Fun times."

Harry glared. San and Dean turned amazed looks on Harry. The guy was a walking mystery and only more seemed to be added as time went by. "Alistair." Harry greeted cordially despite the glare. "If you'd kindly go fuck yourself I'd be happy to move on with my life. As far as I recall anyway you never really got far on the 'breaking me' bit."

Now Dean's eyes were locked on the demon.

"You know who we are." Castiel said stepping forward and directing his speech at Alistair and his demon buddies. "And you know what we will do. I won't say it again, leave or we will lay you to waste."

"I think I'll take my chances." Alistair said drawing his eyes from Harry to the angel.

Harry rolled his eyes as Castiel took a few steps forward and laid a hand on Alistair's head. Uriel ran forward, none too gracefully, and began to fight the two lackeys the demon had brought along. Castiel had his hand pressed against Alistair's head for several seconds before he realized it wasn't doing anything. Astonished eyes took in the fully intact demon in front of him.

"Sorry kiddo." Alistair said shoving Castiel to the ground. "Why don't you go run to daddy."

Harry rolled his eyes at the whole charade grabbing the second demon which Uriel hadn't gotten around to yet. He twirled a dagger in his hand before plunging it into the base of the possessed man's skull. He watched as the sparks signifying the demon's death spread through the body before he retrieved the weapon wiping of the blood on the man's pant leg.

"Potestas inferna, me confirma. Potestas inferna, me confirma!" Alistair chanted shaking Castiel with one hand held snuggly to the angel's forehead. Harry could see the unfocused look in Castiel's eyes signifying that the exorcism would begin to work its magic soon.

He spotted Dean looking about frantically for a weapon eyes flicking to Castiel worriedly. Harry found that curious. He hadn't thought that the Winchesters got along with the angels. Particularly after this display. He grabbed the back of Alistair's shirt and tugged him away from Castiel allowing the angel to fall back and take deep breaths.

"Alistair."

"Harry." Alistair greeted with a smug smile. "It's been a while since we've had the time to play. We should make up for that."

"I have a better idea." Harry said smiling and shoving his hand forward. The moment it touched Alistair's body black smoke billowed out of the man's throat. "Go to hell."

"Close your eyes!"

A blinding light filled the room. Harry blinked turning to the source. He squinted as the light seemed to reach its brightest point before fading. He let out a sigh but took Anna's disappearance as his cue to vanish.


	5. Quando Satanam Suscitat

It took a while to track Anna down now that she was short a human vessel, but Harry was nothing if not creative. He'd offered to make her a recreation of her human vessel for a price and she'd readily agreed as she couldn't make much contact with the physical world as she was. Harry was starting to understand why demons had it so easy in convincing humans to sign away their souls. Everyone wanted something it was just a matter of finding someone willing to pay a price.

Harry would happily admit that he hadn't heard from the Winchesters in quite a while. A fact he was cherishing. He had had quite enough of the two with their dopy expressions and constant nagging. He was much happier without them around thank you very much.

It was only a month or two after Harry had made Anna's vessel that some disturbing news started to filter through his information channels. Angels were dying. Left and right humans were finding unexplained corpses with the strangest imprints of wings behind them. It was the sign of an angel killed while in a human vessel and it didn't bode well for Harry's newest pet project.

Angels didn't make up a particularly large portion of his clientele, but they were rarely killed by the weak willed. If there was something out there killing angels that meant Anna was in danger too, and to a lesser degree he was somewhat involved as well. Contrary to popular belief he could die. He'd done so numerous times in his long life, but it didn't stick very well.

"Harry."

The voice sounded out of place in his office. He wasn't used to visitors of the Heavenly variety. Well, unless you counted Gabriel, and Harry certainly didn't. The arch angel hadn't really been back to Heaven in quite some time. Still he put on a charming smile. "Castiel." He said leaning back in his chair. "What brings you here?"

"I'm sure you know." Castiel answered without meeting Harry's eyes.

Harry let his head tilt to the side. "You seem different." He said examining the angel. Castiel still refused to look at him straight.

"The angels." Castiel said moving toward the window, most likely to give himself something to stare at besides Harry.

"I assume you mean the dead ones." Harry said leaning back. He doubted Castiel was here to harp about his living brothers and sisters.

Castiel nodded. "We need information."

"Then you've come to the right place." Harry said gathering his papers with a smile. "What do you want to know?"

"Is it a demon?"

Harry scoffed. "You and I both know most demons don't have the skill set or the know how to start killing off angels. The one's that do generally aren't interested in you unless you're actively in their way. The killings are too scattered to suggest that." His voice was cynical. "That was a stupid question so I won't charge you for the answer."

Castiel nodded as if he had anticipated, yet feared that answer. "We have Dean getting answers right now."

"Dean?" Harry asked incredulously. "How? Wait… my answers aren't good enough?"

"We captured Alistair." Castiel said ignoring the second part of the statement. "Dean is…"

"Torturing him?" Harry asked filing away his paperwork. His tone was nonchalant but his expression was dark. "I've heard about him you know. I hear a lot of things in my line of work. Hell, if a person of interest so much as sneezes I know about it, and let me tell you Castiel. Dean is most certainly a person of interest." Much to Harry's chagrin of course.

Castiel looked caught somewhere between shocked and uncaring. Harry knew it was a front.

"Do you really think it's wise?"

"What?" Castiel asked nonplussed.

"Letting him torture Alistair." Harry said plopping back into his chair and pouring out a small bit of scotch. "The souls of men are easily twisted. It's how demons were created in the first place. He, in particular, seems weak."

"Weak?" Castiel seemed curious about Harry's assessment.

Harry glanced up. "How long do you think I spent in Hell Castiel?"

Castiel didn't answer. Instead he seemed to want to think of anything besides that.

"Hell isn't an easy place to exist. There's fire, hooks, razors. Every horror you could imagine packed into a tiny shoebox of unpleasantness." Harry said knocking back his drink and lining up another. "I don't blame him for cracking."

"Then why call him weak?" Castiel seemed genuinely curious.

"Because all men are weak Castiel. It's the way your beloved God made us." Harry said 'God' with so much disdain he almost sounded like he was choking on the word. "But Dean, Dean is the physical embodiment of desperation. The kid sold his soul because his brother couldn't ride around in his car solving mysteries with him. Harsh, I know." Harry added when he saw Castiel open his mouth to argue. "But if you think from a logical standpoint it wasn't Dean's giving into Alistair's offer that led to the first seal breaking. It was his making the deal that sent him to Hell in the first place."

Castiel had no counter to that. It was the truth, however bluntly stated it was.

"Now, I recommend you go have a little pow-wow with your angel buddies and talk about which one of you is going about offing the others. It's obvious one of you is doing the killing. Stop…" Harry said when Castiel made to argue again. "I don't really care about your denial. Start thinking instead of being blind and maybe you'll see the truth before it stabs you in the back. I'm tired. Good night Castiel."

He snapped his fingers and Castiel was gone. He wasn't particularly tired, but talking with, or more appropriately 'at', the angel was giving him a headache. He had to admit though, the guy was growing on him. Castiel was riddled with denial, but it was admirable that he stuck so closely to his teachings.

Three weeks passed in which Harry was able to do his usual business. He happily obliged the part of him that liked the repetition of paper work. It wasn't often that he was able to do stuff like this himself. Usually he was jetting all over the country looking for priceless objects or selling information to a broker. Lately he'd been cleaning up messes from the Winchester brothers too, adding to his work load. It was nothing short of a awe inspiring how much disaster hunters left in their wake. He might've been more irritated with it if it weren't beneficial to him to be able to swoop in after one of their blunders and offer to fix problems they'd left behind. They leave a victim with horrible injuries after a wendigo attack? Harry has some convenient healing spells and a talisman to help with the PTSD. Demon recently exorcised from your dear husband and your eyes are opened to the supernatural forever? Harry's there to offer you some anti possesion magic and a memory wipe. For a price of course.

At first he hadn't been sure why he found himself drawn to the two idiot hunter brothers. He wouldn't be obligated, under normal circumstances, to respond to a call from one of his business cards. In fact, he usually didn't respond if he found the person particularly distasteful. Once again fate was stepping in, and he meant that literally. One of the three fates had paid him visit a week ago to inform him that she wanted him watching the Winchesters. Why? Well, supposedly they were messing with destiny. Screwing up her time charts in a literal sense.

Harry had all but booted her from his office when she'd demanded he 'march his ass down there and kill them now' like she was his boss or something. He'd proceeded instead to pour himself a scotch and verbally berate her for at least an hour. The 'fates' had royally screwed him in life, even if he was quite content with his current position, it wasn't like he owed them any favors. Besides, even fate couldn't demand action from Death. Death was sort of a rule all.

And 'Death' was a good title for Harry. No, he wasn't the 'Death'. He didn't run the show, but when the big guy was being restrained down stairs Harry certainly seemed to make a valuable stand in for him. He was just happy all his creepy little reapers seemed to keep their distance for the most part.Still, there was a reason angels feared him, demons too. Humans…well, they seemed blissfully ignorant to his powers. Which was probably why his best business came from humans, and why it was so easy to get what he wanted from them. They were weak willed and with a few temptations thrown their way they were putty in his hands.

Harry felt a twinge, letting him know someone had activated one of his calling cards. With a sigh he leaned back and stretched. No need to rush after all. Good things came to those with the virtue of patience, or so he'd been told. He gazed to his paperwork, nearly done, on his desk and shrugged. The call could wait a few hours, right?

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Harry straightened his suit as he landed just outside of a large skyscraper that marked the skyline of Columbus, Ohio. He raised his eyebrows. Who the hell would have called him all the way out here? Eying the tall building he shrugged and stepped inside and eyed the interior. It was nicely decorated, if a bit plain for Harry's taste. He certainly looked the part to be there in his suit. He glanced around for a familiar face.

Sirens wailed outside and then Harry found himself in the middle of rushing paramedics. He stepped to the side allowing them to pass into the elevator. He watched the small numbers light up one by one after the doors had slid closed. When they stopped he smiled. "May as well follow the commotion. I doubt it's unrelated."

He hadn't expected what he found. The body of a nondescript Caucasian male lay drenched in his own blood in a bathroom. A pencil was wedged firmly in his carotid artery. The guy had superb aim if he'd done that himself, but it wasn't the dead man that attracted his attention. It was one of the men stood off to the side talking with the police. His striped shirt and suspenders nearly made Harry laugh. It looked out of place on the normally ruggedly dressed man. No, Dean Winchester certainly didn't pull off suspenders well.

Behind him, in the hall, Harry spotted the gigantic Sam watching with pensive eyes, but something seemed off. Harry watched them closely for a few minutes before the staff started to disperse to their own workrooms again. Harry was sure they were far from done talking about the event, but they couldn't stand around all day if they wanted to keep their jobs. Harry watched Sam leave, then Dean. With a shrug he set out after Sam. Not a single person stopped him either. When you acted like you belonged some place, people usually thought you did. So Harry settled in near the elevator and only when he thought it would suspicious if he lingered any longer with no purpose did he throw up an invisibility spell.

Much to his surprise Sam seemed completely engrossed in his work and some scribbling on a notepad he kept glancing at. Harry frowned. Something was definitely wrong, but he couldn't put a finger on what. Sam's phone rang and a few seconds later the man was grabbing his things and heading in Harry's direction. Harry stepped onto the elevator as the doors slid closed watching as Sam hit the '22' button.

The ride up was short and silent with Harry still under his invisibility. They stepped off together and Harry trailed along after the giant man as he made a bee line for office 2208. Sam knocked as he walked through the doorway and Harry got a glance at Dean buttoning up a fresh shirt. He smirked. At least the bold blue stripes and the suspenders were gone.

"Come in. Shut the door." Dean said making his way to his desk.

Sam followed his brother's instructions before turning back and looking a tad nervous.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean asked glaring.

Harry nearly choked on his own breath. What the fuck did that mean?

"I'm not sure I know." Sam answered shifting.

"What the hell does that mean?"

Sam moved forward a bit. "Sam Wesson. I started here three weeks ago."

Harry tried to push down the surreal feeling of the scene.

"Alright. You cornered me in the elevator talking about ghosts. And now..."

"Now what?" Sam asked curiously.

A pause on Dean's end as if he was deciding whether or not to admit to something. Clearly he decided not to.

"Now nothing. I, uh...so you started working here three weeks ago, huh?"

Sam nodded with a frown.

"Yeah, me too."

"Alright. That's enough." Harry said dispelling his invisibility. "I've had enough of the surreal 'It's a wonderful life' talk."

"Holy mother of-!" Dean fell back clutching his chest and staring at Harry as if he'd just stabbed a man.

Sam was just staring at Harry wide eyed. "You…you're…"

"I swear to god if you tell me my own name I'm going to take up batting practice with your head. What's going on?"

"You just appeared out of thin air!" Dean said incredulously leaning over his own desk then he flopped back in his chair. "I can't believe it. Ghosts are real."

"I'm not a ghost you twit." Harry spat. "But thank you for the run down on my activity log. I'll get back to you the next time I need help remembering what happened two seconds ago."

"I've seen you before." Sam said, head tilting slightly to the side in recognition.

"Brilliantly observant aren't you."

"In my dreams." Sam added.

"I'm flattered." Harry said flipping a hand haphazardly. "Now then if you don't mind I'd like to figure out why you called me here so I can leave. I don't particularly feel like standing around all day waiting for you two to stop day dreaming. It's a waste of my free time."

Sam's brow furrowed and his fingers twitched just a bit towards his pocket. "I didn't call you." Harry turned his gaze to Dean who waved his hands.

"Don't look at me. I don't even know who you are…or what you are."

Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Fantastic." He muttered. "Someone's tampered with your memories."

"Tampered with…what the hell are you talking about?" Dean asked indignantly. "No one's tampered with my memory. My dad's name is Bob, my mother's name is Ellen, and I have a sister named Jo. I was born in-"

"Wrong." Harry cut off. "You have a father named John. Your mother was Mary and you don't even have a sister."

"Who are you to tell me that my-!"

"I'm your worst nightmare if you don't stop talking Dean Winchester!" Harry spat angrily and the lights flickered a bit.

Silence reigned the room until Sam spoke up.

"That last name…what…did you call him?"

"Winchester?" Harry said eyebrow raised.

Sam nodded hand going to his chin. "I've heard that before…"

"Gee. Might be because it's your last name genius. Now sit down." Harry pushed Sam just hard enough for him to fall into one of the arm chairs in front of Dean's desk. "Don't move."

He pushed two fingers against Sam's forehead and looked him directly in the eye concentrating. He sifted past the altered memories. There weren't many, just enough to make someone buy that they'd lived a sheltered life. If Sam tried to remember things from his early childhood he would have struck the wall separating his new life from the old. Harry touched the wall feeling the energy run through the mental connection and grimaced pulling back.

"Fucking angels." Harry spat moving away from Sam.

"Angels?" Dean asked incredulously.

"Yes. Try to keep up. I don't care to repeat myself."

"Angels did this?" Sam frowned. "Like the one in my dreams? Ca…"

"Castiel? No." Harry supplied as he pondered over the two hunters. "No, this is beyond Castiel's capabilities. You know, you two have a habit of pissing off extremely powerful people. Maybe you should stop."

"They didn't piss me off." The door to Dean's office was opening to reveal slightly pudgy older man. He had a grin on his face like he'd just won the lotto. "Not yet anyway."

"Zachariah." Harry said eyebrows raised. "I thought I smelt overconfident douchebag when I walked into this building, but I thought 'nah, he's too busy fucking things up in heaven to be here'. Nice vessel by the way. Very age appropriate."

Zachariah's grin didn't vanish. In fact he seemed even happier at the sight of Harry if anything. That unsettled the wizard just a bit.

"I'm so confused." Dean said gripping his head and leaning against his desk.

"Dean, Dean, Dean." Zachariah said moving toward the man. When Harry made to move the angel twisted his hand and Harry's neck followed the movement twisting to an odd angle. His body dropped haphazardly to the floor. Sam let out a startled gasp and moved toward the fallen body just a bit like he could undo the damage somehow by getting closer.

Zachariah tapped Dean's head before he could jerk back. Immediately memories flooded back into his head.

"What the hell?" Dean said blinking. "Why am I wearing a tie? My god am I hungry."

Sam stared between the two in confusion.

"Welcome back." Zachariah said perching on the edge of the desk.

Dean took in his surroundings eyes coming to a rest on Harry's body on the floor.

"Don't' worry about him." Zachariah said standing. "He'll be up and about in no time. It's annoying really. I still haven't found a way to permanently kill the bastard."

Dean blinked. "You're an angel?"

"Zachariah at your service."

"Great. Like I needed another one of you guys." Dean tried to catch Sam's eye but his brother seemed preoccupied with the dead body in the room.

"I'm hardly 'another one' Dean. I'm Castiel's superior. Pretty high up the food chain."

"And what? You've come to have a divine intervention?"

"Well for one I came to fix your attitude problem." Zachariah offered, sounding a little too chipper about his job.

"I don't have an attitude problem. I have a people fucking up my life problem." Dean said shaking his head. "And what? This is some sort of lesson?"

"I'm sorry." Sam finally spoke up. "What the hell is going on?"

"Ah, Sam." Zachariah said rounding on the man. "I completely forgot you were there. An unfortunate oversight. Let me correct it." He tapped Sam on the head and the man collapsed. "Calm down Dean. He's just unconscious. Honestly you two get so up in arms about each other."

"Gee maybe it has something to do with the guy you just killed in cold blood not five minutes ago!" Dean countered.

"He's not dead." Zachariah corrected. "Or at least he won't be in a few seconds."

True to his prediction Harry gave violent twitch on the ground before pushing himself up. He glared at the angel before spitting out a large gob of blood and saliva as he righted his neck. "Ow." He growled jerking his head to the side and hearing a satisfying crack.

"So what was this test supposed to be about?" Dean turned the conversation back on track. "How much power you have over our lives?"

"On the contrary," Zachariah held up a finger. "It's about your destiny. It's about how you would have become a hunter even without your dad dragging you into it. It's in your blood Dean. No heavenly assistance needed. You and your brother, you'll find your way to hunting every time in the dark. You're miserable without it."

"Fancy speech and all, but if you didn't realize it's a moot point." Dean ground out. "Seeing as you zapped us here in the first place."

Zachariah threw his hands up. "Come on Dean. Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Sorry I must have left it back at the hotel you abducted me from." Dean quipped earning a half amused smile from Harry.

"I think this pleasant chat's just about over, don't you?" Harry said and he flicked his hand. Zachariah was gone instantly as if expelled from the room by the movement.

"What did you do?" Dean asked looking around as if the angel would just shift through the floor or something. "I wasn't done asking questions."

"I'm sure he was done giving answers." Harry said with a glare. "You're not going to get answers from them Dean. I wouldn't even try. Angles may not lie very often but they're perfectly able to twist the truth and exclude facts. Now where did Zachariah steal you from? I'll be nice and drop you off on my way home. I'll even break the memory spell on your brother for free."

XXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Harry glanced up from his work briefly acknowledging the presence of the angel in the room. "You shouldn't be here Anna."

"I know that." She said shifting feet.

"No, clearly you don't…because you're here." Harry said setting down his pen. "Your vessel is being watched for."

"How haven't they found me yet?" Anna asked looking at him intently.

Harry sighed. "That's a secret Anna."

"I need to know."

"No! You don't!" Harry snapped before he could reign his temper back in. He rubbed his forehead. "I'll look for a new vessel for you. In the mean time I need you to go back to the facility."

"Why? So you can keep me prisoner?" She asked bitterly.

"Really Anna?" Harry's voice turned sour. "Prisoner? Because most watchmen allow their prisoner to walk off unwatched? Take what you can get Anna because it's either this or whatever the angels have planned for you. Personally I'm starting to think you're more trouble than the ring's worth."

"You know the seals are going to break and you're not going to do anything about it?" Anna spat just as angrily.

"I'm not doing anything because there's nothing I can do." Harry shot back. He'd seen as much in the thrice damned visions he was still getting. "No matter what I do, no matter how I try to affect the outcome the seals still fall!"

"You could warn Sam and Dean!" Anna said passionately. "You could tell them about the final seal."

Harry shook his head. "What part of 'the seals still fall' aren't you comprehending. If I tell him he still kills her. It's just for a different reason. The way I see it I'm sparing him the guilt of knowing what he was doing. He won't die Anna. The angels won't allow it. You know that. They'll make sure the seals break."

Anna looked properly abashed and a single tear slid down her cheek. "You care don't you?"

Harry gave her a disgusted look.

"I can tell."

Harry didn't glance up but his hands shook just slightly as he poured a glass of scotch. "Bloody angels." He muttered and nearly dropped his glass when Anna placed a hand on his shoulder. When had she gotten so close?

"I'm sorry." She said tenderly. He was starting to wonder if he preferred her before she'd fallen and embraced human emotion. "The weight of the world has already rested on your shoulders once. It's unfair of us to ask for that again."

Harry shrugged off her hand. "That was lifetimes ago."

Anna nodded. "Still, I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't seem to cut it kiddo." Harry said knocking back his drink with a grimace. "If it did all of our slates would be wiped clean. Tabula Rasa even after our greatest mistakes. I can't ask for that."

Anna shook her head. "If anyone deserves it you do."

Harry scoffed. "Why? I've been trafficking items in the Americas for nigh on two centuries now, and that's just the tip of the ice burg in this reality. Not exactly holy material over here."

"That doesn't matter." She said before sighing resignedly. "I'm going back."

Harry said nothing as the sound of fluttering wings filled his office. He let himself ignore the impending apocalypse like he had been doing before their conversation and he sank his worries in six bottles of scotch.

XXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He nearly dropped his glass when his wards went off signifying Anna was in mortal peril. Couldn't he get a moment of peace? He apparated, still holding his glass and frowning intensely. He felt his anger flare when he saw what lay before him. Anna was stood several feet from Castiel an angel on either side of her. Harry stepped forward lightly touching the angels on the back on the neck. Their vessels collapsed, momentarily put out of action.

"Honestly Anna what happened to laying low?" Harry said shaking his head in irritation.

Castiel simply stared at Anna so Harry snapped his fingers and the woman disappeared. Castiel turned his gaze on Harry. "Where did you send her?"

"Somewhere safe." Harry said massaging his temples. "The blithering idiot would probably have a better survival rate if she didn't go about contacting the people who want her dead."

"And them?" Castiel nodded to the downed angels.

"Temporarily incapacitated." Harry said with a shrug.

"I had no ideas your powers had evolved to this point."

Harry frowned. "When you've been around as long as I have you learn a few tricks."

"So I've noticed…You can't keep protecting her."

"A warning or a threat Castiel?" Harry said expression turning dark. "I don't take well to threats."

"A suggestion." Castiel amended. "There are no others like you in this world, but the angels do not seem to care if they have to wipe you out. They've actually encouraged it, and the ones who would see you dead have been trying to find a way to make that happen. Though I'm not sure how they might accomplish it, it would be a… shame to see you fall."

Harry's face softened a bit. He could sense true emotion hidden just beneath Castiel's gruff exterior. "I believe you are in need of a suggestion more than I am Castiel."

"I am?"

Harry nodded. "Soon, everything will change. The seals are going to fall despite everything you're trying to do to stop them, and when they do you're going to find out some pretty world changing truths." Harry's eyes closed seeing flashes before them. He opened them to see a confused angel. "Don't fall to the wayside Castiel. The humans need as much help as they can get. See that you don't forget."

Castiel studied his face and nodded disappearing moments later, but Harry knew his warning was in vain. None of his actions had ever altered the course of a vision before. Castiel would back Heaven in the upcoming wars. He would turn his back on humanity eventually to do what he thought was right for the world. Harry shook his head and snapped his fingers sending the unconscious vessels to a random spot in Michigan. Better to leave them somewhere that they couldn't link to their forgotten memories to confuse them.

He turned, transporting himself back to his office. Anna was there sitting in a chair and fidgeting.

"I warned you that the angels would do anything to catch you." Harry said with a sigh. "They don't want you to leak valuable information."

She stood and began pacing. "I had to go. Castiel released Sam."

Harry tilted his head. "I'm failing to follow your logic."

She hesitated. "Dean locked Sam in a panic room. He's been drinking demon blood."

"So I've heard." Harry said a tinge of regret coloring his voice. Another thing he'd been seeing visions of but had done nothing to try and change. He wondered just what it might have done to the hunter.

"Dean put him in the panic room to break his addiction. Castiel released him."

Harry leaned forward kneading his temples.

"He was following orders, but that's-"

"Anna." Harry said calmly and she stopped talking. "He was following orders."

She opened her mouth to argue but he cut her off.

"It's quite obvious how you feel about taking orders, but Castiel hasn't realized the things you did yet. He's trying desperately to believe that he is following the word of God."

"That doesn't make it right!"

"No, but it was necessary."

"Necessary?"

Harry tapped his head. "The final seal will fall tomorrow Anna. Sam has to be out of the panic room for that to happen."

Anna sent him a loath filled glare. "You want the apocalypse to start."

Harry shrugged. "It will whether I want it to or not. I may as well get what I want from the mix."

Anna glared shaking her head and then she was gone in a rush of wings. He sighed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Harry stood watching the convent in Maryland. He was just close enough to see the light flickering through the tinted windows. Just close enough that if he wanted to he could pop in and say hello before the world went to hell.

He snapped his fingers conjuring a chair for him to sit in. His mind was torn on the subject, and the constant mental debate was driving him mad.

"You're here?"

Harry didn't turn to the sound of Anna's surprised question. "And you're not captured by the angel patrol squad yet. I think we're both surprised with each other. I figured your deluded sense of morality would've made you throw yourself into danger the minute you left."

"Why are you here?"

"Honestly?" Harry said raising an eyebrow and letting the question hang there for a moment. "I don't know."

"You feel guilt." She said. It wasn't a question, it was an accusation, a pointed barb.

He was surprised that the word seemed to fit with the emotion he was feeling. He hadn't felt guilty about anything in a long time. He supposed he hadn't repressed that bit of him as much as he'd thought he had.

"You want to help them." Anna spoke again.

Harry sighed, staring at the convent in the distance.

"There's still time. You should go."

"I've never been able to change the course of a vision before Anna."

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't try."

He turned weary green eyes on her. He studied her there for a moment. "Why aren't you trying to help?"

"Something is keeping me away." Anna said bitterly, turning jaded eyes to his. "I thought it was you at first."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." He sighed, pushing himself up again. He was tired, and he was stressed. He was about to lose another world. Another. Hadn't he lost enough?

"Please." the hand on his shoulder might have shocked him more if he was really in a state to be shocked. He watched the flickering shapes in the windows. "Help them."

He wasn't sure why her pleading convinced him, but it had all the same. He apparated into the midst of the decrepit place with a put upon sigh. The halls of the convent were lined with corpses and broken glass. Harry suppressed a shiver. The place just felt evil. He would never understand why someone had thought it a good place to build a church. Morons.

Pounding echoed through the halls and Harry followed it. It wasn't long before he came upon a frantic Dean Winchester trying his hardest to open a set of wooden double doors.

"Sam!" Dean cried out running at the door with his shoulder. Needless to say the door didn't budge. Dean then tried kicking it before a hand caught his arm dragging him back. "You?!" Harry gave him a small eye roll before flicking his fingers at the doors. They parted quickly, slamming against the walls inside with enough force to make them rattle. Dean rushed past him calling for his brother. Harry strode calmly into the room a sense of foreboding overtaking him. The room was full of power, endless and breathtaking.

"Sam!" Dean called again stopped by some unseen force though Harry had a good guess that it was the demon standing next to Sam who was keeping the older brother at bay. Sam had a hand out, body turned away from the two new arrivals, but at his brother's entrance he had turned, confused.

"Sam!" the demon Ruby called panicking. "What are you waiting for?!"

A shrill laughter filled the air as Sam seemed to struggle with his concentration. "You turned yourself into a monster…and now you're not going to bite?" Lilith's voice rose over all else in the room somehow drawing Sam's attention back to her. "I'm sorry, but that's honestly adorable."

Harry watched Sam's hand raise. He could let this happen. He could let Sam kill Lilith and start the apocalypse. He could watch the wheels of the world turn like he had for so long now. The bitch certainly deserved no less than death, but something in him wouldn't let him take a back seat to this. He ran forward shoving Sam and breaking his concentration just as Lilith had started to spark in that all too familiar way that signified a demon was dying.

He hit Sam and the two went sprawling across the floor. He caught sight of Sam's eyes and reeled back. Solid black looked at him. What the fuck had Sam done to himself? He didn't have time to think about it as a piercing pain hit his back and then he was finding it rather hard to breath. He twirled as fast as his rapidly diminishing senses would let him and saw Ruby just inches behind him, hands bloodied and poised in such a way that let him know that she'd just stabbed him with something. He made to hit her with something, anything but his mind locked on his lack of oxygen and he found himself spluttering as blood forced its way up his throat. Why was everyone so keen on stabbing him in the back lately? The best he could do was push outward, throwing her away momentarily with a blast of unconcentrated magic.

He hacked, acutely aware of what was going on around him. Lilith was free of whatever hold Sam had had her under and she and Dean were struggling with something that Harry couldn't quite make out. Sam was first at Harry's side in confusion and then he was rushing to help his brother. Harry tried to call after him, the least he could've done was pull out whatever the hell the bitch had stabbed him with. He could feel it there between his shoulders. Harry let out another cough feeling like his lungs were on fire. It wasn't a feeling he was unfamiliar with. He could feel Ruby rushing at him preparing to take what she thought would be his death blow. She was probably more startled than she let on when he caught her foot and twisted causing a sickening crunch. "I'm not….dead yet… you fucking… bitch." He hacked out forcing down the growing nausea so he could finish this.

But he'd recovered too late and he knew it. He heard the scream but didn't want to turn and see his failure with his own eyes. Still, he had to.

Lilith was laying on the floor looking more shocked than she probably should have given the circumstances. She'd known her death was coming after all.

"You did it." Harry heard Ruby say behind him and suddenly he couldn't keep his balance any more. He hit the floor on all fours. Was it just him or was the air in this room made of jello? Why the hell couldn't he breath? "I mean…it was a little touch and go there for a minute, but you did it."

Harry wanted nothing more than for her to shut up right then. He hacked again and was both surprised and unsurprised to the fine spray of blood hit the floor. "Fuck." He forced out.

"Ruby, what's going on?" Sam said his voice laced with panic. Hell Harry started to panic when he saw blood staring to worm its way across the floor in his direction, but it only passed him and kept going. "What…what did I do?"

"You opened the door." Ruby said ecstatic. "And now he's free at last! He's free at last!"

"No, no, no, no, no." Sam pleaded. "I stopped her. I killed her."

"And so it is written that the first demon shall be the last seal. And you busted her open Sammy." Ruby said a bit too smugly. Harry swore if he were capable he'd stand up and stab her through the chest right now. That was actually a splendid idea. 

"You don't even know how hard this was! All the demons out for my head. No one knew. I was the best of those sons of bitches! The most loyal! Not even Alistair knew! Only Lilith! Yeah, I'm sure you're a little angry right now, but, I mean, come on, Sam! Even you have to admit-"

Harry forced himself to his feet in the middle of her little monologue and twisted his arm almost to breaking so he could wrap his fingers around whatever it was she'd stabbed into his back earlier. It dislodged with a fair amount of effort and damage and he saw a short dagger very similar to the demon killing one Dean had in his possession but none of the same enchantments. Without a forethought he reached around plunged the knife through Ruby's chest and into her heart.

She let out a startled little cry and he could feel her body shake a bit. "That won't work." she choked out.

"Want to bet?" he replied just as unevenly. He poured power into the blade, reveling in her screams as she started to spark. She became dead weight suddenly and Harry couldn't hold her up. He stumbled falling onto his side. He opened his eyes and suddenly he realized where he was laying. He was still in the circle Lilith's blood had been forming. Dean was making his way over, for what Harry was unsure. Harry forced himself to his knees blood dripping from his chin. "Stop!" he yelled at Dean just before he could put a foot inside the nearly complete circle. Something inside his head told him that would be a bad idea.

Harry shakily stood up even as Dean halted. Harry worked his way over, but wasn't fast enough. The circle completed itself and the blood began to slowly swirl inward to the center. He made to put his foot over the line to no effect. Something invisible held him inside. He focused on Dean who had noticed his inability to cross. "Leave." He said in as commanding a voice as he could manage while still breathing blood. It was less than convincing to his own ears.

"How do we get you out?" Dean said looking around as if there was some clue.

"You don't Winchester." Harry said coughing and his knees gave out. Should he even bother trying to heal the wounds? "Leave. Now."

Sam was stood slightly to the side seeming a bit overwhelmed by everything. "There has to be some way!" Dean countered.

"There isn't!" Harry yelled and immediately regretted it when he saw black spots. He was sure he wasn't a pleasant sight covered in both his own blood and Ruby's. "Get out of here now." Harry voice was getting weaker and was it just him or was the room becoming hotter? "Now!"

Dean nodded once grabbing Sam's arm as the man looked a bit lost. "Let's go Sammy!" Dean yelled over the sound of the wind picking up around them. A bright light had begun to glow right behind Harry but the man seemed oblivious to it.

Sam seemed finally to snap out of his daze and his eyes settled on Harry kneeling there at the edge of the circle. "Dean!" Sam yelled gesturing at Harry.

"Let's go Sam!" Dean said forcing the weakened man towards the door. They didn't get very far before the light overtook everything.


	6. Si Vos Somnia Diaboli

Harry swallowed back bile. He felt like he was going to vomit the pain was so intense. He'd felt worse but this was certainly no picnic. He cracked his eyes slowly. Closing them again when the light made his dilated pupils contract angrily. He hissed even as the pain started to ebb little by little.

He groaned, stretching out his legs. It felt like he'd been curled in a ball for an eternity. Slower this time he opened his eyes, curious as to his location. His head was fuzzy and he couldn't quite remember. A forest lay as far as he could see to either side of him. He tilted his head confused. How the hell did he get in the middle of the forest? His leg brushed a rock and he glanced down. He was naked. Bloody hell he was naked in a forest. Why?

He cringed as the panic set off a headache. He tried to apparate to his house but when he opened his eyes he found himself standing only a few feet from where he had been. He tried to summon clothes, nothing happened. He tried to create clothes, still nothing happened. Unsure of what to do he plopped down on the ground and took a deep breath.

"What the fuck?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dean kept glancing at Sam out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't sure if his brother had noticed yet. Then again, he didn't particularly care if Sam did notice.

Dean was frustrated, with life, with the situation, but mostly he was frustrated with Sam. He slowed the Impala as they approached a narrow bridge, and then had to stop completely. He pushed his thoughts to the side to face the bigger issue at the moment. "This is the only road in or out of town." Dean frowned. He had checked the map earlier to be sure. He liked to know the lay of the land in case there was trouble.

Sam held up his cell phone. "No signal."

"Rufus was right." Dean said kicking a rock down the collapsed side of the bridge. "They've got this place locked down."

"Looks like we're hiking in."

"And the hits just keep coming." Dean said making his way to the back of the car to grab their weapons.

They made their way into the small town of River Pass quickly. They only stopped once when Sam had sworn he'd heard something, but having found no source they kept going. The place was a ghost town. Cars lay on their sides and hoods. A baby stroller sat in the middle of the street completely abandoned. Neither Sam nor Dean wanted to dwell on what might have happened to its occupant.

The sound of a gun cocking had both brothers stilling instantly. Dean whipped around leveling his shotgun and then he hesitated. "Ellen?"

"Hello boys." She said stepping closer and lowering her own weapon minutely.

"Ellen, what the heck's going on here?" Dean asked and got a splash of holy water to the face for his trouble. He stood there stunned for a moment before spitting out the little that had gotten into his mouth. "We're us. Okay?"

She motioned for them to follow, not bothering to splash any holy water on Sam. Dean didn't fail to notice that little fact. He felt his irritation rise again.

She led them across the threshold of a church stopping just a few feet in to watch them cross over a salt line and devil's trap. Seeing that she seemed satisfied and pulled Dean into a hug. "I'm real glad to see you boys."

She leant back and slapped Dean drawing a hiss of surprise, and wide eyed amusement from Sam.

"The can of whoop ass I ought to open on you!" Sam immediately wiped the smile from his face, not eager to receive a slap of his own. "You can't pick up a phone? What are you allergic to giving me piece of mind? I got to find out you're alive from Rufus?"

"Sorry." Dean said looking like he was getting ready to dodge another slap if it came his way.

"Yeah you better be. You better put me on speed dial kid." She said turning away to lead them the rest of the way down into the church.

Sam and Dean shared a mutual look of awe. Women were scary sometimes in a way they'd never seen a man be.

"So what's going on?" Sam asked to break the silence.

"More than I can handle alone." Ellen answered honestly.

"How many demons are there?"

"Pretty much the whole town except the dead, and these guys."

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Harry paused as he happened upon the outskirts of a town. He glanced down at himself and frowned. He couldn't exactly go gallivanting through the square with no clothing on so he walked just inside the tree coverage. He walked for upwards of fifteen minutes, earning himself even more small cuts than he'd had previously. Eventually he reached a house close enough to him that he felt it safe enough to run.

It turns out it wasn't at all necessary to have done so. There wasn't a soul around to see him there. He could have waltzed across the courthouse steps and he probably wouldn't have garnered so much as a raised eyebrow. No, the town was good and dead.

As soon as Harry realized he stopped in his tracks. He felt like he was walking, or rather running, into a trap. Still, clothing would help if he came across…undesirables. He didn't exactly feel like fighting commando. He wasn't Beowulf.

He approached the house a bit more cautiously now watching for signs of movement. He checked the back door and cursed lowly when he found it locked. The entire town was abandoned, but they'd taken the time to lock their doors before disappearing. Spectacular. He grabbed a pillow off of the porch swing and held it against the window next to the door. He slammed his elbow back into the pillow saving his arm from being shredded by the sharp glass. He reached in and flipped the lock so he could lift the window easily.

The house was decorated in a typical traditional American home setting. In fact it might have been altogether too normal for Harry's sanity if not for the blood spatters on the kitchen floor and entrance hall wall. Something serious had gone down here, but he was unsure what. He shrugged. Investigating weirdness was second in his book to finding a pair of pants so he made his way up the stairs careful not to trip and fall on the debris he found scattered there.

The first door he tried was a linen closet, the second a child's bedroom. The third was what he was looking for…mostly. Its red walls were a bit alarming on first entrance, but it was paint, not blood, to his surprise. He'd always hated red walls in bedrooms. He made his way over to the closet and set to picking through the clothes until he found a few pairs of jeans. He would've looked for something a bit more his style but he doubted he'd find his size and even the thought of wearing ill fitted slacks made him cringe.

The first pair was a bit tight, and the second a tinge too loose, but he'd take the loose ones over the tight any day. Besides, the smaller pair seemed to belong to a woman if the rest of the clothing on that side of the closet was anything to go by. Tugging on the jeans he searched for a shirt and grabbed the first unstained one he could find. It just happened to be a slightly wrinkled gray button down missing the top two buttons. His nose wrinkled a bit as he put it on. Didn't these people own any decent clothing?

He grabbed a belt off of the dresser and tightened it to make sure the pants weren't going to slide off if he had to do any sudden running. "Time to investigate I suppose." He said running his fingers through his hair. He pulled a twig out and flicked it away.

Outside the town was just as desolate as he'd thought it was on first inspection. Over turned cars littered the streets. He saw a woman's purse laying in the middle of the street completely upright as if she'd just set it there and wandered off to do better things. He wandered closer to where he saw shops. He ran his fingers over the bricks making up the wall and paused as they ran over smooth glass. 'Quick Mart' the sign hanging above his head read. With a shrug he went in. A card rack stood just to the side of the entrance and he bee lined for it. He grabbed the first card and flipped it upright. "River Pass, Colorado?" he said raising an eyebrow. How the hell was he in Colorado? The last he remembered he was…He put a hand to his head as a flashing light played through his mind. It was searing in its intensity, but through the sudden migraine he swore he heard something move. He whipped around and spotted the pool of blood moments before the large body was hurling itself at him.

He ducked, rolling to the side and jumping back up. He turned warily to his attacker and stopped. "Sam?"

Sam froze in front of him. He'd hit the drink coolers when he missed Harry and apparently struck his head. He turned warily at the sound of Harry's voice.

"Thought that was you." Harry said relaxing his stance a bit. "Haven't met too many people quite as tall as you. Certainly none as... muscular."

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked and Harry's eyes flicked to the knife that was still held in a clearly offensive position.

"Sam?" Dean's voice rang through the store.

"Dean." Sam called back drawing the man's attention to them.

When Dean saw the second person he hustled over drawing his gun.

"Would you look at that?" Harry said trying to hide the twinge of pain his own voice sent through his head. "The complete Winchester set."

"Harry?" Dean said eyes watching the man warily. "What are you doing here? I thought you were dead."

Harry blinked. Why would the Winchesters think he was dead? Clearly the confusion showed on his face because some of the tension in Dean's shoulders fell. "Your guess is as good as mine." He said with a shrug. "I woke up in a clearing about three miles from here…you wouldn't have anything to do with that would you?"

Sam was shaking his head in confusion. Dean just seemed to be running through the story in his head looking for holes. There were quite a few Harry knew, but he wasn't lying. Sam looked to his brother waiting for his assessment. Harry didn't like that Sam seemed a little too keen to just stab him and get it over with. Why did it seem the Winchester roles had reversed suddenly? Wasn't it Dean's job to be a little too quick with the trigger finger?

Finally Dean lowered his gun. "Come on. We've got to get back to the group."

"Group?" Harry asked as the two hunters took lead. "No insult intended but I never counted you two as the 'group' type."

"We're not." Dean snapped. "There are people trapped in this town. We're trying to get them out."

"Whatever you say." Harry wasn't about to argue with them. He didn't really have the high ground right now with his magic on the fritz. He figured his best course of action would be putting the two armed hunters between himself and whatever threat was occupying this town right now.

The 'group' was apparently located in a church's underground basement. Harry felt like part of a snuff film as he followed the brothers down to the shelter through dimly lit corridors. They only seemed to relax when he crossed successfully over a demon trap that had been drawn by the door. Harry shrugged, unsure what was causing the Winchesters to be even more paranoid than usual. They'd seen him cross into Bobby's bunker before. They knew he wasn't a demon.

They reached a door and Harry stopped, head tilting to the side. Something felt off on the other side of that door but he couldn't place what. He tried to reach out with his magic, but was met with another resounding failure. He was starting to wonder if maybe he should let the Winchesters know he was firing on less than full throttle. His appearance should have made it clear, but he never had counted them as the type to connect dots. Dean knocked out a pattern and the door swung inward to allow them entrance. Dean motioned for Harry to follow but he hesitated. "We don't have all day." Dean said in irritation.

With a mental shrug Harry stepped into the room and surveyed the people inside.

"Who's this?" An older woman said coming up and stopping just in front of Harry, surveying him.

"Harry Potter, at your service." He said extending a hand and throwing off all in the room with his accent. "And you would be?"

"Ellen Harvelle." She replied shaking the hand and shooting the Winchesters a curious look. It was obvious Harry wasn't from around River Pass, and the name sounded familiar but she couldn't place where she'd heard it.

"A pleasure to finally meet you Mrs. Harvelle." Harry said with a grin. The woman may be getting on in years but she was still quite attractive in that 'scary mother' sort of way. "I've heard a great deal about your bar. It's a shame to hear it burnt down."

If she looked confused before she looked downright flabbergasted now. 

"Now's not the time for flirting." A muscular young man said heading around them and toward the table where Sam and Dean were laying out their acquired weapons.

Harry grinned lecherously at Ellen before moving after the man. "Is that what flirting looks like to you?" Harry asked innocently, only to be ignored.

"You know your way around a gun at all?" Dean asked the man who'd interrupted Ellen and Harry. The man proceeded to dismantle the gun with startling ease laying each piece out on the table in front of Dean. Harry whistled lowly. "Hm. Where'd you serve?"

"Fallujah. Two tours. Got back a little over a year ago. Takes one to know one. Where'd you serve?"

"Hell." Dean said blandly. Harry and Austin both snorted, though for different reasons.

"No, seriously."

Dean gave him a measuring look. "Seriously. Hell."

Austin blinked, but he shrugged unwilling to call Dean out.

Harry laughed as the man walked away. "Think it's wise to go telling people you were in Hell when they think they're surrounded by demons?" He asked amusedly to Dean who tensed.

"How'd you know about the demons?"

"The place is covered with wards and devil's traps, and you guys were acting like I was going to start flashing black eyes at you any second. How would I not have known?" Harry replied with a roll of his eyes.

Dean seemed satisfied with that for the moment and shrugged heading over to Sam. Harry plopped himself in a free chair and watched the small group go through their gun lessons. He ran his fingers through his hair again and dislodged a few more twigs. He really need a shower. He could only imagine how much dirt he'd accumulated on his person while walking naked through a forest.

"I'll be back." Ellen called out suddenly.

Harry turned his attention to her.

"Where are you going?" Dean asked turning from his conversation with Sam.

"I can't sit here on my ass. My daughter is out there somewhere. I'm not back in half an hour, get these people out of here."

"Wait." Sam called making his way over. "I'll go with you."

"Whoa, hold on." Dean said putting a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Harry watched them retreat back to their corner. He stood approaching Ellen. "If you don't mind the company I'll join you."

"No offense kid, but I don't need someone else dying on my watch." Ellen said harshly. It was obvious she was hoping her brash manner would make him unwilling to go.

He smirked. She wasn't the first hunter to try and use that tactic with him. "Why Mrs. Harvelle, I'm offended. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself."

Ellen eyed him for a long minute. "You a hunter?"

"It's not my primary occupation, but I've been known to dabble." Harry said with a knowing smile. He was aware that he looked like he'd just lost a fight with a dirt patch. It probably wasn't helping his case. So, to prove his point he snatched a shotgun off the table and checked the chamber. He gave her a knowing smile.

"You can come. But don't think-"

She stopped as they heard a thud from the Winchester's direction. Sam had shoved Dean back into the wall behind him. When they realized they were being watched Sam sent one last glare Dean's way before stalking in their direction. "Let's go." He muttered grabbing a gun.

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"Is there a reason you're not wearing shoes?" Ellen asked having finally glanced down at the man's feet.

Harry shrugged not really caring to explain to the woman the trouble of even finding clothing that somewhat fit him in the abandoned town, let alone shoes.

The silence grew between the three and Harry with a short scoff broke away from the other two partially as he examined some of the cars looking for anything useful. He had to be mindful of the broken glass that lay around in sometimes quite random places. He tucked the shotgun under an arm as he pushed open a door. He'd forgotten how cumbersome carrying a weapon got.

Ellen waited until there was a sizable distance between Harry and her before she confronted Sam. "So what's up between you and Dean?"

Sam glanced over to her obviously a bit surprised by the sudden question.

"It's hard not to notice how different things are between you guys these days."

Sam didn't say anything and Ellen saw Harry draw closer, but she pressed on.

"A lot of bad road there huh? What happened? Some girl come between you?"

Sam's shoulders tensed for a second. "Just…stresses of the job. You know how it is. I'm kind of surprised. You and Jo hunting. I thought you said she couldn't hack the life."

"She can't." Ellen established. "But if she's gonna do it anyway…"

"You want to keep an eye on her." Sam said in understanding. Ellen nodded.

"You two even paying attention?" Harry asking jogging up beside them. He nodded in the distance where the two could just barely make out smoke rising above the tree line. "Looks like someone's throwing a bonfire party. Did you guys bring marshmallows?"

Ellen shot an annoyed glare in his direction. They moved around a house until they spotted the chimney the smoke was coming from. Ellen huffed spotting a demon in the window and pointing it out to the others. "Looks like we found base camp."

"Demons don't get cold." Sam said eyebrows drawing together. "Makes you wonder what they're burning."

"Babies." Harry answered with a dark chuckle.

The other two turned to him with expressions caught between disgust and horror.

Harry scrunched up his nose. "Oh come on, they're demons. It was a joke. Lighten up."

Sam made to move around the corner, but Ellen was grabbed from behind and Harry was pushed hard enough to send him tumbling across the yard. He felt his head strike a rock.

Sam whirled around slamming his gun into the head of the man attacking him as Ellen was pinned to the wall. "Don't move you evil skank!"

Harry pushed himself off of the ground disoriented and seeing white. Something was seriously wrong with his head. Still, he forced himself to stumble over to where Sam and Ellen were struggling and fumbled for his dropped shotgun.

"Don't you hurt her, don't you-" Ellen said struggling with a petite blonde girl holding her pinned to the wall.

"Give me back my mom, you black eyed bitch!" the smaller blonde yelled and Harry stopped in his tracks blinking furiously. Their eyes were flickering, both of them. Black, and then back to normal, again and again. Who exactly was he supposed to shoot? should he just start chanting an exorcism? Could he even remember an exorcism through this god awful throbbing?

Ellen shoved the younger girl off.

"Ellen! Run!" Sam yelled cocking his shotgun.

Ellen hesitated for a moment looking from Sam to Harry and then back. Harry felt something hit his already sore head and he collapsed, allowing the blissfulness of unconsciousness to take him.

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Sam yanked at the bonds on his wrists for what felt like the eightieth time. He shot another glance to other bound figure in the room. Harry had been making groaning noises and such apparently since before Sam had even woken up, but he hadn't roused from his sleep. He was just sitting there, head lolled to the side with blood seeping down onto the gray shirt he was wearing. He'd never looked more human to Sam than in that moment, and that scared Sam. Why did he have to choose now to be human like? And if he was human and Sam had dragged him into this mess…Just another layer of guilt, right?

The explosion that had rung through the air minutes before wasn't reassuring to Sam. He had to get out of here. He had to find Dean and tell him that War was trying to take down this town. He couldn't dwell on mistakes right now. That wouldn't help anyone.

The door burst open and Sam almost sighed with relief, but he had too much to say. "Dean! It's not demons! It's-"

"War." Dean finished with him. "I just can't figure out how he's doing it."

"The ring." Sam supplied as his wrist came free.

"The ring. Right, he twisted it just before he made everyone hallucinate and go hellbitch. Where's Ha…" Dean stopped as he spotted Harry tied down inside his own devil's trap. "Did Rufus do that?"

Sam shook his head. "I don't know what happened. He's been out of since I woke up."

Dean nodded moving to Harry's chair and repeating the process he'd done to Sam's. He lifted Harry in a fireman's hold. "We've gotta move. Come on."

They hustled down stairs where Jo was rushing about stopping people inside their base from shooting. Dean sat Harry down and leaned him against a wall.

Sam and Dean hustled out of the house making sure to stay out of sight of any of the still rampaging townspeople. It didn't take them long to get to the red mustang they'd noticed on their way into town. It took even less time for them to spot War strutting down the street towards them.

Dean pulled the demon killing knife and held it at the ready getting a nod from Sam. When War made a move to open the door of the car they jumped him. Sam held War's arms back while Dean brandished the knife threateningly.

"Whoa. Okay. That's a sweet little knife you've got there, but come on kids! You can't kill War." War said laughing a bit.

"Oh. We know." Dean said grabbing War's hand and slicing. War let out a startled cry as the knife removed his ring finger and with it, the ring. Suddenly the man, the finger, and the car were gone, leaving only the golden ring sitting innocently on the ground.

All of them could feel it when the hallucinations stopped. It was like a veil being lifted. Suddenly Rufus and Jo didn't need to run around reminding people not shoot anyone and they were thankful for it. They met back in the front hall and Jo grimaced as she saw the small man leaned against a wall, still unmoving.

She knelt beside him checking his pulse. "What do you thinks wrong with him?" she said worried. "He should have woken up by now."

Rufus shrugged, eying the man with distaste. It was in his nature to distrust those he didn't know and let it not be said that Rufus was a man that didn't follow his nature. Jo glanced up as shuffling feet signified a new arrival. Dean stood in the doorway frowning, his eyes rested on the man against the wall. "It's done?" she asked.

Dean nodded, stepping inside. "Yeah."

"Where's Sam?"

"On his way back to the car. He's going to call the police so I recommend you guys get out of here soon."

Jo followed Dean's gaze which hadn't left the man. "You know him?" she said surprised.

"You could say that." Dean said kneeling next to him. He shifted the slighter man forward and then over his shoulder.

"Where are you taking him?" She asked confused. "Wouldn't it make more sense to just leave him here for the paramedics?"

Dean shrugged offering her one of his winning smiles. "Something tells me he wouldn't appreciate that." Dean answered as honestly as he could. "Take care Jo, Rufus."

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Sam and Dean sat in heavy silence at the truck stop. Dean crumbled his sandwich wrapper. "So, pit stop at Mount Doom?" Dean joked trying to lighten the tension.

Sam was silent a beat too long. "Dean."

"Can we not?" Dean said angrily tossing the paper into a trashcan.

"No, listen." Sam interrupted before Dean could go on a rant about not having girly moments. "I know you don't trust me."

Dean didn't meet his eyes and that was all the answer Sam needed to know he was right.

"It's just…I don't trust me now either Dean." Sam said staring at his hands. "From the minute I saw that blood, it's been the only thought in my head...and I tell myself it's for the right reasons, my intentions are good, and it, it feels true, you know? But I think, underneath...I just miss the feeling. I know how messed up that sounds, which means I know how messed up I am. Thing is, the problem's not the demon blood, not really. I mean, I, what I did, I can't blame the blood or Ruby or...anything. The problem's me. How far I'll go. How far I almost went. There's something in me that...scares the hell out of me, Dean. In the last couple of days, I caught another glimpse..."

"So…what are you saying?" Dean asked trying to catch Sam's eye.

"I'm in no shape to be hunting. I need to step back. I'm dangerous Dean. I nearly got a lot of people killed. Hell Dean, I thought I got him killed." He motioned towards the back seat where Harry's prone body lay. They'd taken a pit stop but they were on their way to Bobby's to see if they could figure out what was wrong with the man. 

"Well, I think you're right." Dean agreed.

"I was expecting a fight." Sam said a bit startled.

"The truth is I spend more time worrying about you than I do about doing the job. And I just can't afford that. Not now…you know?"

Sam nodded though he seemed a bit heartbroken that Dean wasn't saying anything to contradict him, to keep him there. He knew he didn't deserve kind words after all he'd done, but he couldn't help but want them, even if they would have made the situation worse.

"I'm sorry Dean."

"I know you are Sam." Dean said with a sigh.

Sam stood and Dean looked up.

"Do you…uh well…do you want to take the Impala?" It was an offer of redemption of sorts, and a sign that some part of Dean still trusted Sam. After all, the Impala was Dean's baby, and the man in the back seat had a destination. But it was a tether that Sam didn't want at that moment.

"It's okay." Sam said with a shake of his head. He took a few steps and then looked back at Dean. "Take care of yourself."

"Yeah…you too Sammy."

Dean watched Sam as he hitched a ride from a truck driver who was leaving. He kept his eyes on the truck until it was down the road and gone. Guilt gnawed at his stomach, but relief as well. Guilt that he was letting his brother walk away despite everything and somehow he was okay with it which made it worse. But relief that Sam had been the one to make that call in the end. Relief that maybe, just maybe the Sammy he knew was hiding under all that posturing and demon blood.

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Harry groaned. White light far too bright to be natural danced before his eyes and his head felt like it was splitting open. He squeezed his eyes tighter, but he felt something pulling at his eyelids trying to open them, and that certainly didn't feel right. He opened his eyes way too fast and everything in the room blurred, but he wasn't in a room and he could still feel someone trying to peel back his eyelids like you would to an unconscious person even though his eyes were open. It was disorienting.

In a flash he found himself in an old hotel room and the light dimmed dramatically. He blinked trying to adjust his eyes to the sudden shift. "Where the fuck am I?" He groused.

"A hotel room." Harry whipped around at the semi familiar voice. Red hair, pouty lips, ivory skin. But he hadn't seen her in forever.

"Ginny." He said distantly. He'd long since filed away his emotions for her.

"You shouldn't be so angry all the time." She said in that way that Harry was all too familiar with.

"You shouldn't be messing around in my head." He was well aware that it was beneficial to take the form of someone your victim was attached to. "Who are you?"

The fake Ginny sat up in bed and smiled sweetly. "Don't you recognize me?"

"I recognize the form, but I know you're not her. Who are you?"

The smile stayed although it turned a little more bitter. "Lucifer."

Harry tried not to show his panic. "Had a feeling I'd be seeing you again some day." Harry said with a frown.

Lucifer/Ginny stood and walked over to him tapping him on the forehead. Pain flooded through him and he collapsed to the floor gasping. Memories flooded back into him. He blinked. Why had they been gone in the first place? He remembered the convent, the confrontation, being burned from the inside out as Lucifer latched on to the nearest living thing in an attempt to drag himself from the pit.

"I was being nice." Lucifer said from where he…she…it had taken residence on the bed again. "Your body would've died a few more times than it already had if I hadn't taken those memories and put you back together myself. You should thank me."

"Thank you?" Harry spat. "I don't know if you noticed, but I would've come back to life anyway, and you're the one who kept me pinned there in the first place if my guess is right. I hardly owe you gratitude for making it 'easier'."

Lucifer frowned. "They told me you were ungrateful. I chose to ignore them. They're so rarely right about things."

"Who?"

"The other angels. My brothers and sisters." Lucifer said raising a hand as if it explained everything. "They told me you were spiteful, that you were weak. I figured they were simply annoyed that they couldn't delete you like a program error. And that's what you are Harry. A glitch in the system. A remnant of a deleted history that was never meant to be."

Harry scowled. "Thanks for the reminder." Harry said turning away, but Lucifer was right there when he turned placing a finger against his chin.

"They erased your entire race Harry. They killed your friends and they ripped you from your life. Don't you want revenge?"

Harry slapped the finger away, his anger overtaking his trepidation. "You seem to forget you're one of the ones that did it!"

Lucifer pouted and on Ginny's face it was almost cute. "I'm wounded. I can't believe you still think of me as one of them. No one else does." Lucifer paused. "They think I'm more demon than angel now. More evil than good."

"More destruction than creation." Harry said eyes half glazed at the thought.

"Exactly." Lucifer said shaking a finger knowingly. "You and I Harry, we're a lot alike. Both of us cast from our homes, scorned by our peers and just for doing what they told us to do. You should join me Harry."

Harry felt an actual growl rip through his throat. "Like hell."

"Oh, no, you see. That threat loses its weight when the person you're throwing it at runs Hell."

When Harry still glared with no chance of any answer coming forth Lucifer sighed.

"I can't expect an answer today. I understand. Think about it though." Lucifer said and then Harry was back in his head alone. And a splitting headache was what greeted him as Lucifer's honeyed words played in the back of his mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dean arrived at Bobby's late that night. As he pulled closer to the house he saw the lights flick on one by one. He'd called Bobby beforehand to let him know the situation, but he wasn't sure what the older hunter could do really. Bobby wasn't a doctor, he knew that.

They laid Harry out on a cot in the living room and Bobby went back to flipping through books relentlessly. Dean called all the contacts Bobby had looking for answers but the ones that answered seemed to know next to nothing. Even the back alley doctors he'd talked to weren't particularly helpful. They were all convinced Harry was in a coma, but that didn't make sense with the groaning the guy was doing. It was like he was being kept just below the realms of consciousness by something. Dean felt his mind drawn back to the dream root incident with Bobby but he dismissed it. Bobby hadn't acted like this while he'd been under.

"Anything?" Dean asked slamming down his phone.

"Not a damned thing." Bobby said flipping another book closed. "It's looking more and more like we're gonna have to bring him to a hospital."

Dean stared at Harry for second before shaking his head.

"We're not equipped to deal with this." Bobby reasoned, his voice gruff. "We're not doctors Dean."

"I know." Dean said rubbing his face. "I know that, it's just…something's telling me we shouldn't bring him to a hospital because he wouldn't appreciate it."

"What's got you so ready to help the guy anyway? Last I checked you thought he was some supernatural monster who'd be better off dead."

"Nothing…it's just…" Dean looked ages older in that moment, as he often did lately at choice moments. Bobby swore he'd seen younger looking men in their eighties. "He was there Bobby."

"There?"

"At the convent, when Sam…" Dean trailed off not really wanting to bring up his brother's faults again. They were still too recent, too fresh in his mind.

"What the hell was he doing there?" Bobby said suddenly defensive and glaring daggers at Harry from his wheelchair.

"That's just it Bobby. He tried to stop him, to stop Sam."

"Well why didn't he?"

"I don't think anyone could have Bobby. He tried though."

"And what, the moment Sam popped the devil's box he disappeared into thin air?"

Dean shook his head. "No…he…he stopped me. I went to get him up and he told me to stop Bobby. I didn't get it until I saw him trapped in the circle. He couldn't get out Bobby. I don't know why but he couldn't. I thought he was dead. I thought someone else died protecting us…again."

Bobby couldn't say a damned thing to that. Harry hadn't struck him as the self sacrificing type.

"Hello Dean."

Dean suppressed the jump as best he could before turning a glare on Castiel. "Hell, Cas, can't you knock like everyone else?"

Castiel looked unperturbed by the reprimand instead turning his attention to Harry. "Why is he here?"

"He showed up on our last hunt and got hurt. I couldn't just leave him there."

Castiel glanced around again. "Where's Sam?"

"We're taking separate vacations." Dean bit out. "Did you find God yet? Better yet can I have my damn necklace back yet?"

"No, I haven't found him. That's why I'm here. I need your help."

"With what? Your 'God' hunt? Not interested."

"Not God. Someone else."

"Who?" Bobby spoke up.

"The archangel who killed me."

"Why the hell would you want to find him?"

"For in-"

A partially muffled yell cut Castiel off. Dean shared a short look with Bobby before rushing over. Harry was arching off the couch every muscle seeming to contract at once. "What the hell's wrong with him?" Dean asked trying to flatten the rather thin body back down onto the couch so he wouldn't fall, hit his head, and make this whole situation even worse than it already was.

"He looks like he's having seizures." Bobby said over the garbled sounds coming from Harry. "How hard did you say they hit him again?"

"They're not normal seizures." Castiel's calm voice seemed out of place.

"What does that mean?" Dean said harshly. He hated Castiel's cryptic wording sometimes…okay most of the time.

Castiel tapped Harry's forehead and the man slumped back down to the couch. Dean let out a relieved sigh. "He's trapped in a dream scape."

Dean blinked. "Like the dream root." He said sharing a look with Bobby who had paled a bit at the reminder of his dream root experience.

Castiel was watching Harry like a scientist watched a rat trapped in a maze. It was disconcerting to say the least.

Bobby grabbed the small flashlight he'd been using earlier and rolled up next to Harry opening one eyelid to check the man's pupils.

"Sweet Merlin!" Harry exclaimed swatting away the light in his eye.

"You awake now kid?" Bobby asked leaning back.

Harry gripped his head and let out a moan.

"I would say he is awake." Castiel supplied none too helpfully though it was obvious he thought he was revealing new information.

"Thanks genius." Bobby said rolling back and towards his desk.

"I feel like I was hit by a steamroller." Harry said with a gravelly voice.

"You took a pretty good hit to the back of the head if what Ellen told me is true." Dean supplied from his corner.

Harry cracked one eye open and surveyed the room. "Ah, we're back at the trash heap again." He said with a wince. "Spectacular."

"I'd stop complainin' if I were you." Bobby said with a scowl.

"Well, you're not." Harry supplied laying an arm across his eyes. "And complaining is one of my favorite pastimes."

Castiel stepped away from Harry frowning. "Something is wrong with your head."

"Thanks for the news flash Cas." Dean grumbled.

"I'm not talking about the concussion or the dream scape." Castiel supplied seemingly having understood Dean's sarcasm for once.

"Yes, well. I suppose I have your arsehole of an older brother to thank for that don't I?" Harry said and they could hear the barely there edge to his voice that suggested he was moments away from drifting off again.

"My brother?" Castiel said unsure what Harry meant. He had many older brothers.

"Lucifer. Guy's a… real prick." And then he was gone. His head lolled back against the pillow behind him and he fell into a more restful sleep.

Dean glanced nervously at Harry then at Castiel.

"Don't worry. He's just sleeping now." Castiel supplied like that was what the group was worried about.

"What did he mean by Lucifer?" Bobby asked suspiciously. "The kid's not playing meat suit to the devil is he?"

Castiel shook his head. "If Lucifer were using him as vessel Harry wouldn't survive for more than a few days."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"His magic would fight the possession. It would destroy the vessel. We would already be able to see signs of it."

Dean's eyes widened. "Whoa."

Castiel turned to Dean. "Will you help me find Raphael?"

"Give me one good reason I should."

"You are Micheal's vessel. No angel would dare harm you."

"Oh so I'm your bullet shield."

"I need your help because you are the only one who can help me."

Dean stopped, thinking about that. "Alright. Fine. Where is he?"

"Maine. Let's go."

Bobby shook his head as the two disappeared leaving him with an unconscious Harry. "Great." He muttered wheeling his way to the kitchen. He was hungry and he had a feeling that Harry could do with something too once he woke.


End file.
